


The Pitch

by BKC_BAM



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, FALMOUTH FALCONS, HP: EWE, Post Hogwarts AU, Quidditch, Quidditch World Cup, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-07-26 01:25:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 36
Words: 43,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7554766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BKC_BAM/pseuds/BKC_BAM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I expect you to do your bloody job and get this team to the World Cup. Is that understood?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Falmouth Falcons

“Mr. Malfoy, tell us are you excited to be drafted by the Falmouth Falcons?”

This was his first press conference since his accident two years ago and it had been a rocky two years. It seemed as if no one was willing to take a chance on him. He’d shown promise at all open scoutings, even managed to make it on the Moose Jaw Meteorites reserve team for a few months, but Canada living was not his idea of a good life.  
He was surprised when his agent owled him the good news that the Falmouth Falcons were looking to add him to their regular season roster as seeker. He’d heard recently that a new manager had taken over the team but had yet to hear who. Whoever it was giving him this chance, he was taking them out for drinks. 

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining the Falcons. Any team with the motto ‘Let us win, but if we cannot win, let us break a few heads’ is a team I want to be on.” The reporters mumbled notes into their wands.

“Have you met the new manager yet Malfoy?” 

“Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure to meet the bloke yet, but I’m looking forward to shaking his hand.” The crowd gave a hearty laugh causing Draco to release a smug smile. He had missed being in the lime light. It would feel even better to get into a proper uniform and start a game. To say he was pleased was an understatement.

“Final question.” The team publicist called out to the reporters and a few hands shot up. Draco noticed an attractive blonde in the crowd and pointed to her. 

“Go ahead Mrs…”

“It’s Miss actually. Miss Lancher. Grey and white aren’t really your colors Draco. Any chance on getting them changed to something more suiting to your complexion?” The men around her gave a hard laugh. Witch Weekly always sent one of these types of reports out to these events. 

“Although black suites me better, I willing to give grey a try. If grey is what it takes to get me off the bench, I’m happy to oblige.” He flashed her a charming smile but it seemed she had more to say.

“I’m sure I have a few readers would are dying to get you off the bench if you know what I mean.” She gave a wink as once again the men in the crowd laughed. Draco caught himself before taking it too far. 

“Well, they know where to find me,” with that, he stood from the table. Flashes from the cameras went off as the publicist escorted him from the stage. 

“So, can we send someone back to get me a date with her?” Michael, the publicist gave a sarcastic laugh. 

“I wouldn’t touch that one with a ten foot pole mate.” Draco gave him a grave face as they headed off towards the manager’s office for the first time. 

No plaque had yet been placed next to the door. He could still see the space where the previous plaque had been placed. 

“Ah boss, he’s ready to see you.” 

“Thank you Michael. Send him in.” To say that Draco was surprised to hear a female voice come from the room was an understatement. The room was bright, she had the curtains pulled back and he got a look at her perfect view of the pitch. Light shades of grey and white were incorporated into every bit of décor in the office. Her chair was turned and all he caught view of was her brown, curly hair up in a messy bun. 

“Please come in Malfoy and take a seat.” Doing as asked, he strutted his way over to the chair placed in front of her desk.

“I wanted to thank you for giving me this chance. I know it’s been rough since my accident, but I know I can help take this team to the World Cup.” 

“I know that Malfoy, that is why I picked you to replace that wanker Terence Higgs. He had one job, but here we are, sitting with a losing record. I don’t like losing Malfoy. Is that understood?” She had yet to turn her chair around, but so far everything she said so far was exactly what Draco’d been looking for in a GM. 

“So I expect you to do your bloody job and get this team to the World Cup. Is that understood?” 

“Yes ma’am. I won’t let you down.” The way she spoke made him feel like a soldier going to war, but at the same time, her voice seemed oddly familiar. 

“Excellent. Welcome to the team Malfoy.” She’d finally turned her chair around and he was face to face with none other than Hermione Granger. 

“Granger?! What the bloody hell are you playing at?” Shock was plastered across his face. It was warranted however since he’d never heard anything about Granger being involved in Quidditch. As far as he knew, she detested the game and couldn’t stand to fly. 

“Well, I’m not really ‘playing’ at anything Malfoy. What I’m doing to building a team to win. Are you planning on being on that team or should we not move forward with completing your paperwork?” She was stern with her tone and Draco stared her down, trying to make heads or tails of what was happening. 

“Why me? You hate me, we’re enemies.”

“We’re enemies Malfoy and that seems like a lifetime ago. I’ve grown, surely you’ve grown as well. Granted, one can never be too sure.” She was fumbling through the paperwork on her desk, collecting items as she went. It became apparent she had a meeting to attend after this little meet and greet. When he still hadn’t responded, she gave a frustrated huff.

“Look Malfoy, I needed the best and unfortunately for the both of us, you were the best available. Plus, I spent years watching you play at Hogwarts. I know how you operate. I know you’ll take risks and I know you’ll do what it takes to win. Can you do this for me?” Her eyes appeared tired and he could tell by blanket thrown over the couch, she’d been her a few days. 

“I have one condition.”

“Of course you do. What is it Malfoy? What else could you possibly want? I’m trying to make you a star here.” She was on the verge of breaking down. He could tell she’d tried to prepare for this meeting but he knew it was hard to need help from someone you don’t enjoy the company of.

“I want to teach you to fly.”


	2. The Contract

Hermione stared at him, dumbfounded. It would be a cold day in hell when she would willingly find herself on a broom out on the pitch. To be honest, most days she had her curtains pulled closed. Even being up as high as her office was placed was sometimes too much for her to handle.

“Malfoy, be realistic. Neither of us have the time for you to teach me to fly. Practice starts tomorrow, bright and early. I expect you to be there ready to go,” She once again made her way towards the door, checking her watch as she brushed past him. 

“I won’t sign if you don’t agree.” She stopped dead in her tracks. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath before turning around.

“Then I’ll just find someone else. Have a great day Malfoy.” She gave a small wave with her left hand and turned to go again, but he grabbed her arm. Her eyes glared down at his fingers laced around her bicep before she brought them up to meet his.

“There is no one else. I’m you’re only option. I know what your salary cap had left and anyone who’s up to my standard, you can’t afford. Plus, you open against Puddlemere United one week from tomorrow. Anyone you can afford is going to flop against Benjy Williams. He’d been leading the league in catches for the last three years. You’re going to want someone with experience Granger. I know you’ve run the numbers.” He gave her a smirk causing her to curse under her breath. Damn him for actually knowing what was going on in the league. Biting her tongue before speaking, she seemed to reach a decision. 

“Fine. I will take one lesson with you…” 

“You will take one lesson with me a week.” He interrupted.

“Once a week? Malfoy are you out of your mind? We don’t have time for that. You have to practice and I have things to do.” Her voice seemed to whine at the end and he took notice.

“You. What do you do?” His finger pointed to the man who’d appeared at Hermione’s door. He had a clipboard in hand and he appeared confused.

“I’m Miss Granger’s personal assistant.” He gave Hermione a pointed look.

“So this is why you don’t have a higher salary cap.” She gave him a dirty look before finally removing her arm from his grasp.

“I’ll have you know, the Falcon’s do not pay for Nigel. I do not that it’s any of your business Malfoy.” Pausing for a moment, he looked up, doing some quick math in his head. He gave her an impressed look before turning to Nigel again. 

“What day is Granger most available?” He watched as he flipped through what appeared to be her day planner, mumbling to himself as he went. 

“It would appear that Thursday's right before lunch she normally only has one meeting. Other than that, she’s pretty booked.” Hermione gave a knowing smirk to Draco as if to say I told you so. 

“That meeting, is it more important than having a Seeker with experience?” Nigel’s expression turned to look of distress. He looked from Draco to Hermione and then back to Draco once more. 

“Technically, I could go to the meeting for her and take notes. She not really required to be there…” His voice was small and he felt the daggers Hermione was staring at him. “I’m sorry Miss Granger, it’s just we need to have a good season if we both want to keep this job.”

Giving a large sigh one final time, Hermione turned to Draco. She regretted her decision to hire him now more than ever. She stuck out her hand. The movement was fast and Draco twitched slightly, worried he would receive another slap to the face much like the one he’d received from her in third year at Hogwarts. When he realized they were shaking hands as if to signify a deal, he grabbed her hand, giving her a firm handshake. 

“Now, if you don’t mind,” she looked down to her watch once more, letting out a heavy sigh. “I’m now ten minutes late for a meeting. Please, just sign the damn papers and get to the locker room Malfoy. I’m sure they are waiting on you.” 

Finally making it to the door, Draco called out after her, “I’ll see you Thursday Granger eleven sharp!” Without turning around, her hand went up in the air to acknowledge that she’d heard him and she continued on her way. He watched as Nigel trailed behind, making note of their appointment in her day planner. 

“Well, Mr. Malfoy shall we sign some papers now?” Michael was gesturing out the door, probably to his own office.   
“Let’s go make this official.” Draco clapped his hands together and headed for the door. 

“You know, I have to say Mr. Malfoy. When I heard she wanted you for this team, I figured there would be fireworks, but that was not what I was expecting. What’s with the flying lessons? She’d figured you’d want as little to do with her as possible once you found out she was manager.”

“Exactly Michael. Why should I be the only one to suffer from this arrangement? Think of it this way, if I win every game and get her to the World Cup, she wins. Yes, granted I’ll get the glory and the fame and of course the ladies,” here he winked at Michael as they traveled on towards his office. “But if I win the World Cup and get to torment her at least once a week for a few hours, I beat her. I mean yes, we both still win but, her win comes at a much higher cost.”

“And this rivalry between the two of you, what caused it?” Draco pondered for a moment at the best way to answer the question. There were many things they had fought about in the past, arguments they’d had, a war they fought on different sides. But there was always one thing about Hermione that drove Draco crazy. Her need to be first, to always be the best. Well, today being the best came at a cost. 

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Draco shrugged his shoulders and took a seat in front of Michael’s desk. Michael let out a hearty laugh as he shut the door to his office.


	3. Practice

“Great job Malfoy. Only took five minutes that time. Time to bring out the big guns though, put the pressure on.” A whistle sounded and the reserve team took the field, ready to prove they could be starters. Practices had been going great so far. Most of the team was really starting to click together. It seemed Draco wasn’t the only replacement Hermione had made however, and that apparently didn’t sit well with some of his team mates. Keeper Alaric Deadman had been kicked to the reserve, being replaced with Dillon Horton-Jenkins, who had been a reserve player for the Pride of Portree.

It was Thursday, the first Thursday for flying lessons. Normally, the team wouldn’t be scrimmaging on a Thursday but all the reserves were here for a final once over this afternoon, no doubt at Hermione’s request. So they got into position, awaited the whistle and the quaffle was tossed in the air. Draco kept himself above the drama taking place below. Bludgers were flying everywhere, being smacked wildly towards the chasers. Draco could see why the teams’ record last season was little to be proud of. This was not a functioning whole unit. Sure the main squad was tight and beginning to work well together, but it appeared the reserve team was out for blood. He was all for the teams motto, ‘Let us win, but if we cannot win, let us break a few heads’ but that shouldn’t apply to one’s own team.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Galvin Gudgeon the reserve seeker whose place he had taken, take a dive towards the pitch. He seemed to have the snitch in his sights. Draco darted after him, pushing his Nimbus to the limit. He dropped his broom forward at a sharp 90 degree angle, headed straight towards the pitch, gaining on Gudgeon. Feeling the pressure, Gudgeon took a wide swing to the left with his old Cleensweep and came plowing back into Draco’s left shoulder. It threw him off balance for just a moment, but it was able to recover with ease. Leaning as far forward on his broom as he could, he pulled away from Gudgeon, still hurdling towards the pitch. Turning his head back over his shoulder, Draco saw Gudgeon go wide eyed and pull up, not daring to come any closer to the pitch. Draco gave a smirk and pulled a play right out of Potter’s book. He pulled his broom up meters from the ground, leveling out by placing his feet on the broom.

Hermione walked out to the pitch and what she saw make her stomach drop. Draco Malfoy was literally surfing on his broom in pursuit of the snitch during a scrimmage. A scrimmage for Christ’s sake! She dared to turn her attention away from Draco for just a moment to watch her reserve beater, Michael McManus, lay into a blugger aimed right at her star chaser Avery Hawksworth, who was currently focused on Malfoy’s stunt. She stormed over to coach Harry O’Kelly, grabbed the whistle still around his neck and blew hard. All movement stopped. The whistle was loud and high pitched, causing Draco to lose his balance and topple forward off his broom, no snitch in hand. He gave a grumble from the ground as the rest of the team came over and circled above. It wasn’t often that Granger was on the pitch for practice. It seemed the rest of the team had not been informed of her arrangement with Draco.

“What do you imbeciles think you’re doing? I’ve never seen a more idiotic group of men try to play Quidditch in my life!” As a collective group, the men began to argue and point blame at each other. From his place on the ground, Draco rolled his eyes. _‘Great! How the bloody hell I’m I supposed to turn this mess around and win the World Cup? At this rate, we won’t even make it to the quarter finals…’_

“I’m not interested in you half arsed excuses gentlemen. I suggest you remove yourselves from the air and give me a five mile run and for Gods sake someone get Malfoy off the ground and grab him a bag of ice!” There was a collective groan from the team as they began to slowly do as they were told however, Hermione sent a hard glare in their direction.

“I want that run completed before anyone goes to lunch. You finish as a team or no one eats. Is that understood?” She pointedly looked towards O’Kelly, who perked up and blew the whistle, hollering at the men to pick up the pace. Field assistants were getting Malfoy up off the pitch. They’d wrapped an ice bag around his waist to try and relax his back. Hermione placed her head in her hand and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Nigel,” clipboard in hand Nigel came rushing over to Hermione’s side. “Can you please make sure Malfoy will be okay to play next week? Also, we are going to have to clear my schedule. It’s become glaringly apparent that the team needs more work than originally anticipated, couch O’Kelly included. It’ll be all hands on deck if we’re going to stand a chance against Puddlemere.” She pulled her curly locks up into a bun and grabbed her meeting binder from Nigel. With Nigel tending to Malfoy and finding fill ins for the rest of her meetings for the next week, she would have to skip the flying lesson today. Not that Malfoy was in any state to give her one. She couldn’t complain though. A Malfoy free afternoon with her feet planted firmly on the ground sounded like a perfect day to her. On her way back in, she acquired the teams playbook from one of the assistant coaches. If she was going to make this team a winner as she was hired to do, she was going to have to learn the ins and outs of the game.


	4. The Playbook

Draco let out a groan from his ice bath. His muscles had relaxed and he was finally starting to feel better when Nigel came bursting in the door. Nigel was a skinny man, causing his black framed glasses to appear too large for his long face. His messy mop of hair was strawberry blonde and he seemed to prefer a cardigan to a suit jacket.

“Mr. Malfoy, how are you feeling?” Draco sunk a little lower into the tub, unamused by Nigel’s questions.

“Well Nigel, tell me. How the bloody hell would you feel if you did a summersault about ten feet from the ground off your broom onto the pitch?” Draco’s famous sneer placed itself on his lips. Nigel wringed his hands on his clipboard and Hermione’s day planner.

“Miss Granger wanted me to make sure you’d be okay to play next week.”

“Then why Nigel, is she not here checking herself if she’s so concerned?” Nigel shifted uncomfortably from his left to right foot. He’d been warned that Malfoy could give him grief and trouble. Hermione had told him not to take any of his crap. Nigel however, was not that strong.

“She uh- she went to that meeting since you were unable to give her lessons today.”

“And what wanker told her lessons were canceled?”

“Well, she assumed as you needed help being removed from the pitch, that you’d be unable to fly for the rest of the day…”

“Just because I shouldn’t be on a broom doesn’t mean she can’t.” Gripping both sides of the metal tub, Draco pulled himself out with a cry of pain. Nigel adverted his eyes to the ceiling as a naked Draco emerged from the icy water. Snapping his fingers and pointing towards a towel on the chair next to Nigel, Nigel did as he was told and tossed the towel at Draco, eyes still on the ceiling. “What’s the matter with you? It’s a locker room. Normal place for a bloke to be in the nude.”

“Yeah, I understand that sir. Doesn’t mean I have to look at you though.” Draco’s face fell a bit. Not that he was gloating, but he had a really rocking body. He figured it was his gift to share with the world. Twisting the towel to hold around his waist, Draco turned his attention to Nigel again.

“Where is she?” Nigel gave a quick look at his watch. It’d been an hour since he’d last seen her leaving the pitch. Her meeting should have ended already so by his schedule, she would be eating lunch up in her office. Thinking twice before revealing this information to Malfoy, Nigel recalled that Hermione had told him to keep Draco happy enough to stay with the team. Deciding telling him where Hermione was would definitely keep Malfoy happy, he directed him to her office.

Without another word Draco pushed the locker room door open, headed towards Hermione’s office, towel still wrapped around his waist. Who was she to decide if their lessons were canceled? _‘Oh yeah, the sodding manager of this god forsaken team.’_ Draco had tried to process in his mind how Granger even managed to end up with this job in the first place. Surely Weasel was dying knowing she was doing his dream job. Considering as far as he knew, she’d never played Quidditch in her life. Never showed much interest in the game, certainly didn’t know the plays or strategy. How had she ended up here?

Not bothering to knock on her door and with no pesky Nigel to stop him, Draco marched into her office rather abruptly causing her to jump in surprise. When she looked up to see what had caused such a ruckus, her eyes widened in shock and she tried to advert her eyes.

“Malfoy!” Her voice squeaked. “What in the hell are you doing, you git? Where are your clothes?” Her cheeks had flushed pink and she was trying to keep her eyes on his, but he was fully aware his bare chest made that a difficult task.

“My clothes or lack thereof, are not a current concern Granger. I want to know where you get off deciding we aren’t flying today?” Her cheeks quickly changed over from pink to red and she tried to maintain her cool.

“Where I get off? Malfoy, you were removed from the pitch by staff. It wasn’t like you hobbled off the field on your own. If you knew what was good for you, you’d be back in the locker room right now, working with the trainers so you’re ready for Monday’s game. I didn’t sign you to be injured before the season started!” A few strands had fallen loose from her bun during her rant. Draco gave an annoying sigh but determined that she was in fact right. There was no need for him to be out on the pitch yelling instructions at her today.

Noticing a large book sitting on her desk, a small smile appeared on his lips. “Granger, why do you have the playbook? Thinking of couching us to a win yourself, are you? Not like O’Kelly knows what the fell he’s doing either.” Her face flushed again in embarrassment, grabbing the book defensively and pulling it to her chest. 

“Haha, very funny Malfoy. Let’s be honest. We both know I’m rubbish at Quidditch. What I’m not bad at however, is reading, learning and applying what I’ve learned to real life scenarios. So I’ll have you know, I don’t plan on being some General Manager with their thumb up their arse wondering why their team isn’t winning. I don’t operate that way. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to win.”

“Well then, since we can’t fly today, I guess we’ll have to start with strategy. God knows being a bookworm can only go so far when it comes to applying things like plays to actual moving players.” Hermione’s face showed shock. She didn’t think that Malfoy knew how to be helpful. She reminded herself however, her career wasn’t the only one of the line. Her whole team had something to prove and maybe Malfoy really could help them get there.

“Fine but I’m going to need you to put some clothes on before you sit on anything in my office….” Noticing his evil smirk, Hermione’s jaw dropped as did Draco’s towel right in front of her before he sat in the chair across from her desk, bare assed.


	5. Coaching Changes

“Oi! Malfoy! Get your head outta your arse and move it up those stairs!” His feet were dragging as he stumbled up the stairs. He let out a big yawn which only earned more shouts from the conditioning coach. Draco was beat. It had been late night with Granger, going over Quidditch basics and simple plays. He knew Hermione was normally a very brilliant witch, however it seemed that did not translate over well into the sports world. Throughout their hours in front of the white board down in the review room, Draco had learned Hermione’d never played a team sport.

She of course understood the basics of team work and how teams function together. She’d given him a long lecture about how just because she’s never been on a sports team didn’t mean that pairing up with Harry, Ron and the rest of Order to take down Voldemort didn’t count as a team activity. To this Draco had rolled his eyes and continued explaining the X’s and O’s in regards to positions and plays. His eyes had begun drooping when they started watching old film from previous seasons. Draco found he was more than peeved when, after he’d spent the last half hour holding his eyelids open, he looked over to find Granger passed out at the desk.

To say he gingerly woke her up was far from the truth. Hence, she spent another half hour yelling about how her arse hurt from having the chair pulled out from under her and she would make sure he regretted that.

And so here he was. Having missed the five mile run yesterday due to his fall, Hermione had taken it upon herself to have Draco spend the morning making that run up, only instead of running it on a nice, flat surface she had the coach run him up and down the stairs o the stadium.

Taking the final step, he collapsed on the field, panting hard. His shirt was soaked in sweat and his calves were on fire. He could feel his hair sticking to his forehead. He hated that feeling. He’d considered getting a trim but the idea was quickly shut down by Michael. He thought the team needed more sex appeal. Right now, Draco wasn’t sure he agreed.

“Alright Malfoy. Now get your broom and get in the air. Teams waiting for ya.” Letting out a motivated grunt, Draco sat up, pulling himself off the pitch. Granger had taken a seat in the stands, Nigel by her side along with one of the assistant coaches.

Draco noticed her smug grin as he strained to retrieve his broom. He thought about flipping her the bird, but decided better of it. He’d find another way to let her know how he felt about her little warm up.

Practice went off without a hitch. Apparently Granger had mic’d O’Kelly and was intently listening to how the coach ran practices and drills. Draco had to admit, it appeared to be working well. O’Kelly must’ve figured his career was on the line as he had immensely stepped up his game. Draco wondered where this let’s get real attitude had been hidden away before, but the effect  was definitely having a positive outcome on the team.

At noon, the starters were sent to lunch. Granger and her squad came down from the stands, appearing to be going over some notes with the coach before the backups took the pitch. Draco had hung back just long enough to watch O’Kelly remove his ball cap and wipe away the sweat from his bald head in defeat. He put his cap back on, trying not to go red in the face and stormed from the group, headed straight towards Draco.

“Everything alright coach?” O’Kelly scoffed at Draco before realizing his tone.

“Apparently, they want Lucas to run the reserve team for now. They don’t think I’m hard enough on the reserves to be coachin’ ‘em anymore. Load of bull if I ever did hear some.” Draco gave a nod of his head in understanding. It wasn’t that he didn’t agree with Granger, he just didn’t want to coach to know that it had been his suggestion in the first place.

He’d been surprised that Granger had agreed with him. That pulling something away from O’Kelly might just change his attitude towards his job. Hermione did leave out her idea of micing O’Kelly though. Had she suggested it, Draco would have absolutely agreed. He’d hoped that she kept the recording from practice today so he could catch all the bits that he’d missed while searching for the snitch.

It wasn’t that Draco thought that O’Kelly was the worst coach in the world, he just thought the guy could use a little push was all. From what he’d heard from a few seasoned players and Michael when he ran into him a few days ago, the coach had just been floating along for some time now. When Granger hadn’t fired him within her first day here, it was a surprise to everyone.

He’d heard that Granger did quite a bit of cleaning house her first week with the Falcons. The marketing coordinator of 16 years had been let go, along with most of his team. The young announcer they had hired last year was also replaced by someone with more energy and a flare for the dramatics. With those changes alone, pre ticket sales had gone up 20% from this time last season and that was without a full team roster released. No one could say Granger didn’t really know what she was doing.

“Why don’t we grab some lunch them coach. Seems like you’ve got the time. My treat.” O’Kelly hung his head in defeat.

“I think I’ll work on some plays for scrimmage this afternoon. I’ve got some tricks and plays they haven’t even seen yet. We’ll have to run through them on paper before the match starts. Show them what you starters can really do. You mark my words Malfoy. This team will win on Monday. You can bet on it.”


	6. Pregame Press Release

The lead up to Monday had been a bit rough. Coach O'Kelly was still put off about having the reserves practices taken away from him; however he did notice it gave him more time to prep the teams starting seven. Media outlets had been temporarily banned from the pitch as well since coach was trying to keep their new moves under wraps.

Game day found Hermione pacing her office. It was finally time for her to announce herself as the new General Manager of the Falmouth Falcons. Knowing what a loyal fan base the team had, Hermione had worried about their reaction to this being her new role. While she was aware that yes, the media and general population liked her quite a bit as a savior of the Wizarding World, even she was aware that suddenly becoming the general manager of a Quidditch team was a stretch for her.

Straightening her skirt once more, she found herself nervously rocking back and forth on her heels when Nigel entered the room with Michael in tow. "Miss Granger, it's time."

Hermione swallowed hard and gave a nod of her head, following the men from her office. As they made their way towards the pitch, Hermione could see a few of her players giving pregame interviews. Her eyes fell upon beater Kenneth Broadmoor. It appeared he was being a bit touchy with the leggy female reporter currently interviewing him. Hermione couldn't help but shake her head. Broadmoor had been a problem since before she had taken the position. His father was Karl Broadmoor, beater for the Falcons from 1958-1969. Apparently that made him feel entitled to something. At 27 years old, he was by no means inexperienced on the pitch, but it was his arrogance that had made her think more than once about replacing him with reserve beater McManus.

Nigel had followed Hermione's eye and was already on his way over to get a handle on the situation. She noticed the frown appear on Broadmoor's face as soon as he was approached. Hermione gave Nigel a nod in thanks as he began scolding Broadmoor for his behavior and continued following Michael towards the coaches' pregame interview stage. As they neared, O'Kelly was wrapping up his interview as it was time to head to the pitch for warm ups. He gave a curt nod to Michael but held a cold stare on Hermione. Obviously he was holding her solely responsible for his loss of the reserve team. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. Now was not the time to get riled up.

"We here at the Falmouth Falcons would like to welcome you to our season kick off game. I know there has been much speculation as to what's been going on with our team this season and today, you'll finally get some answers. Without further ado, I'd like to welcome your new General Manager making her debut in the Quidditch world this season, Miss Hermione Granger." Michael motioned with his left arm in her direction, requesting her presence on stage, before he began clapping.

For a moment, he was the only one clapping. There was a collective gasp from the crowd of media representatives unsure if this some sort of joke. Eyes grew wide as Hermione stepped out on the stage. It only took a few reporters to begin laughing, for the whole group to join in. By the time Hermione had taken her seat at the table, some had tears rolling down their cheeks. She blushed a deep scarlet, feeling her anger boil inside.

Michael did his best to control the crowd and had finally got them calmed down when the first question was blurted out.

"Do you expect us to believe this rubbish? It's common knowledge that Hermione Granger is very anti Quidditch. How the hell are we to believe she can take this team to the cup?" The man was plump and it was apparent that he held his own opinions very highly. There was a collective murmur from the crowd as they awaited an answer.

"Miss Granger is not anti Quidditch, Mitch, she just hasn't played much in the past-"

"All my reports say she'd never played a day in her life." Mitch grew another round of laughs from the reporters. Hermione tried to keep calm, but suddenly found she lost all control. Standing up from her chair and slamming her hands down on the table, which caused the group to cease all laughter immediately. Leaning forward on her hands for support, Hermione focused all her attention on Mitch.

"I'll have you know sir, I have played Quidditch. Never professionally and never well but that does not keep me from understanding how to run a successful franchise. When it comes down to it, sport or not, this is business. My business and I plan on it being a success. Now whether or not you agree with that is all up to you sir. In the meantime, I believe my time will be better spent making sure my team is ready to beat the pants off of Puddlemere United. Anymore questions are to be directed towards Michael. Understood?" The room had gone eerily silent. She hadn't meant to come across so cold, but she'd been prepared for this. Hermione knew it would be a cost of accepting this job. Not only did she have a reputation as the Golden Girl to shake off, but she was a woman trying to make it in a man’s world.

She was very aware she was currently the only female GM in the league, possibly the entire profession. Head held high, Hermione removed her hands from the table, flipped her fallen hair back over her shoulder and walked from the stage as camera flashes began in a fury.

"Well, that's one way to piss off the fans." Draco had broken away from the pregame warm ups being led by O'Kelly just in time to catch the end of her interview.

"Shut your trap Malfoy. Get your arse back out on the pitch. I'm in no mood for your shit today." He faked a shiver at her cold attitude before following her down the tunnel towards the home end of the pitch.


	7. Falcons VS Puddlemere

 “Where the bloody hell were you just now Malfoy? We were just about ready to send Gudgeon in your place!” O’Kelly boomed as Draco approached the pregame circle, Hermione arriving before him. Beater Ritchie Coote and chaser Bogomil Levski exchanged quick glances, eyeing the pair with suspicion before giving a knowing grin. Draco caught the exchange and his face turned pale shade of white, more than one would have thought possible for a Malfoy before growing red with rage.

“You got something to say Levski?” Draco had moved himself to the middle of the circle, bring his face up close to Bogomil’s. Giving a half laugh and wiping his hand across his mouth, Bogomil stepped up to meet Draco.

“Some of us are here to vin a game, vomen are for after ve vin.” Hermione’s eyes went wide when she realized what Bogomil was implying but before she could open her mouth to set him straight, Draco had lunged forward, right fist cocked back, taking a jab at Bogomil’s jaw. The crowd roared as the fight was broadcasted up on two large, magical floating screens located on each end of the pitch. Chaser Rhys Craggy grabbed Draco, trying to pull him off of Bogomil while it took both Ritchie and Dillon to keep Bogomil from taking a swing of his own towards Draco’s face.

Hermione, wide eyed, stared in shock unsure of how to proceed. Sure, she’d broken up fights in her past but these men were at least twice the size of her and she feared using magic to separate them could hinder their ability to play. Thankfully, O’Kelly stepped in, forcing himself between the two men, giving both of them a hard shove in the chest away from each other.

 “We don’t have time for your bloody fist fight!” He gave each man a hard stern look, one they were not familiar with seeing plastered on the coach’s face. “The rest of you lot! Get out there and play Quidditch!” Bogomil sneered in Draco’s direction, hitting his shoulder as he pushed by.

“Ve aren’t finished.” Draco glared after him, keeping his emotions in check as to not take a swing at him again.

“Malfoy, what the hell were you thinking? You can’t go around hitting your team mates! That’s not what I brought you on for.” Hermione had finally snapped out of her stupor and was staring at Draco, livid.

“Sorry for being a gentleman and protecting you honor Granger. I’ll make a note to not do that in the future.” His tone was cold and she could have sworn she noticed a hint of disappointment in his eyes. Giving a sigh, Hermione deemed pregame a disaster and headed towards her box with Nigel in tow.

They arrived at the box just as the mascots finished their welcoming routines. Players were taking the field and getting into the ready position. Holding her omnioculars close to her eyes with one hand, Hermione’s other hand tightly grips her chair. This was her first match since the ’94 World Cup and this time, she actually cared who won. 

A whistle sounded and the quaffle was tossed in the air. Avery lunged for the quaffle, just missing as opponent Wilda Griffiths grabbed it, flying down the field towards Dillon. Dillon watched her zig back and forth, weaving around both Kenneth and Ritchie. She headed left, drawing Dillon with her, then quickly faked right, sending the quaffle through the hoop with ease. The Puddlemere fans cheered.

Gripping her chair tighter, Hermione watched, unable to breathe as Rhys was racing back up the field towards the opponents’ hoop. He ducked under a bludger that was smacked his way before tossing the ball behind his back to a waiting Bogomil who chucked the quaffle through the far right hoop. The crowd roared once more and Hermione released the breath she didn’t know she was holding. 

The match continued on like this for some time, each team going goal for goal. Oliver Wood appeared to be off his game today, as it wasn’t normal for him to allow so many points. Bogomil seemed to be fired up and on a roll after his confrontation with Draco. One more than one occasion, he came tearing up the field so quickly that he almost knocked one of Puddlemere’s beaters from her broom.

The home team fans were very into the game. Multiple cheers had been started, causing the mascots to join in. It appeared the amount of noise was effecting Puddlemere’s concentration. They began fumbling the quaffle, only to have it picked up by Rhys who then sent it in the other direction. They got themselves a lead of 180-140 at which time Draco began to seriously seek out the snitch. He’d caught sight of it a couple times, but Puddlemere’s seeker was fast on his tail. They’d bumped shoulders a few times which caused managed to make them lose sight of the small, golden ball.

Hermione’s face cringed as she saw another ball fly threw the Falcons hoop. That was three goals in a row for them; bring the score back to 180-170. Turning her attention up towards Draco, she watched as he circled the pitch. _‘Please, let him catch it,’_ she thought to herself as her grip on the chair had moved to her omnioculars.

It was some time before the snitch made another appearance. The Falcons were falling apart. After Rhys took a bludger to the stomach, he had to be benched for the remainder of the match, causing one of the backups to take his position. It was obvious the backups needed more work as Timmy Sampson was having trouble keeping the quaffle in his hands. Twice he’d had it stolen away by the Puddlemere chasers, growing their score to 190. It was all downhill from there. Bogomil and Avery were no longer communicating with each other, causing more misthrows and bad ball handling. Before Draco caught sight of the snitch again the score had grown to 350-190. Suddenly the Puddlemere seeker took off to his left and just out of his reach, Draco saw the snitch. He yanked the front of his broom hard to the right, turning himself around and speeding off.

Below him, Griffiths had just missed and Sampson had picked up the fumble. Draco was gaining on the snitch. He final caught up to Puddlmere’s seeker and gave him a sharp shoulder bump, causing him to lose his balance and set him off course of the snitch. Draco had his arm out stretched and he saw the quaffle leave Sampson’s hand and head straight for the hoop just as his fingers curled around the golden ball.

“Fuck Malfoy! What the bloody hell?” The ding for the goal came right after the whistle blew. He’d grabbed it too soon. He turned to the screen, reading the score across the bottom; 350-340 Puddlemere. Their fans erupted, jumping up and down in their seats.

He sank forward on his broom in disgust. They’d lost. 


	8. The Trade

Draco floated down to the pitch with a sullen look on his face. As he landed, he looked over to his left, only to see the Puddlemere team gloating about their victory. It was a rarity for them to win while traveling. Throwing his broom up over his shoulder, he adverted his eyes from the crowd and his team as he made his way towards the locker room, hoping to drown his sorrows, and maybe himself, in the showers.

"Vat vere you thinking Malfoy? Too distracted by your pre-game romp?" Bogomil cut him off just as he was about to enter the tunnel.

"I feel shity enough about the game as it is you tosser, so why don't you just get out of my way?" Draco kept his eyes down, fearful if he lifted them his fists would follow. Bogomil however, wasn't quite finished.

"I told you before, ve veren't finished. I saw you watching her instead of looking for the snitch." By now, the remaining teammates had gathered at the tunnel entrance as well, trying to calm Bogomil down.

"Mate, now's not really the time, nor place for this," Dillon place his hand on Bogomil's shoulder, noticing what remained of the crowd had their attention fixed on the commotion. Bogomil shrugged off Dillon's hand as he took a step closer to Draco.

"Vell? Don't try to lie to me. I know vat I saw."

"You know what I saw, you git? You're idiotic arse watching me all game instead of focusing your attention on scoring us some points. Maybe if you'd been paying attention, we would have won tonight," Draco's eyes had finally lifted to meet Bogomil's but he kept clutching his fists, trying to keep his anger under control.

"Are you saying that I lost us this game?" Draco's only response was a shrug of his shoulders and a knowing smirk plastered on his face. Bogomil let out a roar and charged for Malfoy, only to be grabbed just in time by Dillon and Ritchie.

"What's going on here?" Hermione had finally made her way down to the pitch, both Nigel and Michael in tow. She eyed Bogomil before turning her attention to Draco and his clenched fists. "I thought we'd discussed this already, Malfoy?"

Draco was about to inform her that this altercation, was not his doing but before he could manage to get a word out, Bogomil sniggered across from him.

"Something funny, Levski?" Turning her attention back to Bogomil, Hermione placed her hands on her hips, awaiting an answer.

"I vas just vondering vat I had to do to get a pregame shag from you too?" Bogomil rumbled with laughter, Ritchie quickly joining in, apparently thinking the same thing. Her jaw slacked open in awe. Did this man have a death wish or was he just that stupid? She glanced over to Draco, glaring at him as he caught her eye.

"Don't look at me Granger. I had nothing to do with this shit," He wiped his hands off on each other before putting them up in defense. Bogomil was still laughing, but after Ritchie took notice of the look on Hermione's face, his jaw snapped shut in a hurry. It seemed like today was just not the day for her to try and control her temper. Stomping over to Bogomil, Hermione brought her own hand into a small fist and pulled her arm back before thrusting it forward to strike Bogomil squarely in the jaw.

"OHH!" There was a collective wince from the team as they heard her fist make contact with his face.

"Ow! Vat the fuck Granger? You're out of your fucking mind!" Hermione shook her hand, pain shooting through it.

"I want him off this team, immediately. Trade him to anyone that will take him." Michael took a moment to realize that Hermione had been addressing him and Nigel both.

"Good luck finding a team to take you, Levski.” Hermione shifted her attention to Bogomil once more. “With your game, Nigel and Michael will be working through the night to get any team to take your sorry arse." His eyes flashed in anger but Hermione chose to ignore him, addressing the team instead.

"Anyone else have anything to say?" The team stared at her in silence, no one daring to make a sound. "That's what I thought. Hit the showers. Practice starts early tomorrow."

They continued to stare after her as she walked away, Nigel chasing after her. "Miss Granger, it'll be hard to-"

"I don't care Nigel. I want his contract with the Falcons terminated. He played a shit game so it won't be easy to get a decent trade out of him." Their conversation died off as they got further away from the tunnel, appearing to be headed back to Hermione's office.

There was an awkward moment as the team looked from Draco to Bogomil to Hermione's retreating back.

"You lot heard her. Get moving! Tough break, Levski. Shouldn't have given her a reason to drop your arse. She's vicious." O'Kelly gave him a halfhearted pat on the back, before allowing medical to come in look over his face. As Draco walked past him, a chuckle escaped his mouth as he saw the starting of a deep, purple bruise.

"Good to know she hasn't lost her touch. Good luck, arsehole." Draco sniggered once again hosting his broom over his shoulder.

Draco was the last one left in the locker room. The hot water felt good on his tense muscles and after losing the match, it wasn't like he had anywhere else to be.

"Mr. Malfoy?" A smirk came to Draco's face as he noticed Nigel had his back turned towards him as he spoke.

"Nigel, mate. We need to get you over your fear of seeing men naked. Are you like this with women as well?" The sound of the knob turning to turn off the shower filled the echoey room. He reached for a towel, wrapping it around his waist and raking another one through his hair.

"If we could just stick to the reason I'm here, that would be great, Mr. Malfoy." Now satisfied that Draco had covered up, Nigel turned to face him.

"Miss Granger has requested your presence up in her office before you leave tonight."

"So Granger wants me to take time out of my life to be at her beckon call? I don't think so, mate." Draco dropped his towel after pulling his clothes from his locker. Nigel averted his eyes towards the ceiling.

"Mr. Malfoy, I really must insist that you do as she asks."

"You tell her if she wants me, to come get me herself. I'm at no one's lap dog." Nigel let out a long heavy sigh as Draco slammed his bag onto the bench.

"Very well, Mr. Malfoy. You've left me no choice." Nigel grabbed his wand from his pants pocket and pointed it towards Draco.

"What do you think-"

"Petrificus Totalus." With a flick of his wand, Draco's arms dropped straight down his sides and his body slowly fell backwards. His head landed with a thud on the floor.

"You really left me no choice you know," another flick of his wand and the incantation 'Windgardium Leviosa' and Draco was floating along in front of Nigel, headed for Hermione's office.


	9. The Clause

Had Draco been able to open his mouth, Nigel would have gotten an earful of profanity and inappropriate statements. As thankful as he was that Nigel appeared to have a steady hand as Draco had yet to be bumped, jerked or dropped, it hadn't stopped him from cursing Nigel in his head. He'd only reached 'Sodding fucking wanker' by the time Nigel knocked on Hermione's office door. He heard a soft 'come in' followed by Nigel requesting for Hermione to please open the door for him as to not drop Draco.

"What do you mean, not drop Dra-" Hermione swung the door open to see Draco floating, laying perfectly still. "Oh. I see. No coming willingly, I see?"

"Not so much, Miss Granger. I know you don't want magic used on the players, but I wasn't sure what else to do," Nigel carefully set Draco on the rug in front of Hermione's desk. It was an awful white rug in his opinion. It appeared to be a faux fur rug, no surprise there. As he laid, still in a body bind, he could feel the long strands tickling the backs of his ears. He fought the urge to try and scream out in annoyance, only to remember once more, he could not speak.

"It's quite alright Nigel. I assume Malfoy wasn't moving when you preformed the spell?" Nigel shook his head in agreement. "Then it should be fine. If you'd like to remove the curse, Michael came looking for you about ten minutes ago. I'm surprised you did not pass him on your way up. I sent him to the locker room."

"Very well, Miss Granger. I will go look for him." With another quick flick of his wrist, the spell binding Draco's body was finally removed.

"Awh! Bloody hell! Make it stop!" Apparently Draco could take the tickling no longer. Quickly realizing he had the ability to shout, he jumped up off the floor, turning to give Nigel a piece of his mind only to discover the wizard was already gone. Fired up, he directed his rage to the only other person in the room.

"What in Merlin's name do you bloody well think you're doing Granger? You can't just request me at will. I'm not some lap pup for you to train and order around!" His face had gone red as his anger creeped up. Hermione, however stayed calm, cool and collected never once showing a hint that he's outburst had fazed her.

"Malfoy, take a seat please. If you must, grab a drink first to calm yourself." She motioned to a built in bookshelf next to her sitting area before taking a seat herself on the couch. He eyed her suspiciously, before moving his eyes to the liquor she'd mentioned. Briefly a look of surprised crossed his face as he noticed an aged bottle of fire whiskey. Pouring himself a glass, emptying it and pouring another immediately after, Draco took a seat on the couch next to her, noticing with dissatisfaction there were no other chairs nearby.

"Alright Granger," he smacked his lips after taking another sip. "What's all this nonsense about?"

She seemed to falter a moment, surprised at his sudden calm. He took notice. He'd store that information away for next time. Dusting off an invisible speck of dirt on her pencil skirt, she clasped her hands in her lap, turning to look at him.

"Malfoy, I know we have a history. The media knows, your teammates know, so do the staff. Granted, out history isn't buddy buddy best friends," he snorted in agreement as he took another drink. "It doesn't stop the rumors. Today for example. What the hell was that about? I've got a lot riding on this job, Malfoy, and I can't afford for you to botch that up for me."

A hint of hurt passed through his eyes for just a moment, before he slammed his glass down on the table. "Granger, I had nothing to do with that shit that happened today. I don't know what Levski's problem was, but I didn't start anything with him. I've got just as many eggs in this basket as you do, Granger. My reputation is hard enough to overcome without added drama like this."

"My point exactly. That is why, I feel we should cancel flying lessons. It's apparent everyone know believes there is more going on here and I'm not sure pictures of me holding your waist on a broom are going to help any." Her clasped hands were now being rung as she stared nervously at Draco awaiting an answer. Looking from her hands to her eyes, Draco reached for his glass, downed the contents and stood from the couch.

"Fat chance Granger. You cancel lessons and I walk. It's officially in my contract so you don't have an option unless you've got the galleons to buy out the clause…"

"Clause? What clause?" She too, had now stood from the couch. He'd noticed her heels had been discarded by her desk. He smirked, using his height to his advantage and took a step closer to her.

"The clause Michael wrote in for me. He swore he'd ran it by you." He noticed her eye dart back and forth, studying his face as if trying to catch him in a lie. "Oh so he didn't run it by you. Well, that's a conversation I'd love to watch. Granger, you skip lessons and I get your job." Her jaw dropped. Surely he was bluffing. That wasn't possible. Michael would never write in a clause like that without checking with her first. Turning from him, she headed for the filing cabinet, searching until the tab 'Malfoy, Draco' caught her eye. Not even bothering to take it to her desk, Hermione opened the file, frantically searching the text for Draco's claim. She was about to let out a sigh of relief when she couldn't locate anything of the sort until on the second to last page, her nightmare was confirmed.

"I already let last week slide Granger. Don't think I'll let you skip out again." He'd moved behind her. She could feel his hot breath on her neck. It sent chills down her spine. She'd never been this close to him before. His scent was intoxicating. Between the news of his contract and the smell of his body, her knees had gone weak. Her grip on the filing cabinet tightened.

"Malfoy, you arse."

"See you Thursday, Granger. I don't recommend being late either." Shivers went racing down her spine once more. She heard him turn away and walk towards her door, slamming it behind him. Finally allowing her knees to give out, Hermione fell in a heap on the floor, curling her legs to her chest.


	10. Lesson One

Thursday came much too soon for Hermione. After her conversation with Draco Monday night, Hermione found herself, contract in hand, marching to Michael's office demanding an explanation. She'd tried her best to keep her temper again, but failed and ended up shaking the contract wildly in the air. Nigel excused himself after a few moments, not returning until he could no longer hear her shouts. She'd finally ended huddled in a ball on the floor next to Michael's desk. It had taken every restraint she had not to fire him, as had been a common theme since she'd started with the Falcon's two months before. When Nigel returned, he had a warm cup of tea in hand.

"Honestly, Miss Granger," Michael was trying to rub her back in an attempt to comfort her, "I allowed the clause to be included as I knew you would keep your word. It was my mistake however, in not checking with you first. It’s just I knew you wanted Malfoy's contract signed as soon as possible." Nigel handed the tea cup down to her, her tear stained faced nodding in thanks. She stared at the steam rising from the cup for a long moment, breathing in the smell. Wrapping both hands around the cup, she brought it to her lips, taking a drink. The tea seemed to calm her instantly. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath. When her eyes opened, she placed the cup on Michael's desk, shifted so she was on her knees and began to pick herself off the floor. Relocating to the chair in front of Michael's desk, she grabbed her tea once more and both men sat, waiting for her to speak.

"Okay," she took another breath and rubbed her forehead with her left hand. "So what do I need to do to make this go away?" Nigel quickly turned his attention to Michael as well, who fumbled through Draco's contract on his desk. He quickly scanned the text, trying to remember if any loopholes had been added. Hermione's hope faded the longer it took Michael to read. She watched his eyes carefully, looking for any signs of good news. When she finally noticed them open wider and brighten, a smile came to her face. "Well?"

"If Miss Granger learns to fly and successfully passes a flying exam, Mr. Malfoy will forfeit right to manage the Falcon's." Michael looked up from quoting the contract to study Hermione's face. Her smile was still plastered across her face. 'I hope that's a good sign'.

"All I have to do is pass a test and this is no longer a worry?" Hermione looked to Michael. He nodded his head as he read through the line again.

"It seems as simple as that, Miss Granger."

"Get an owl to Madam Hooch at Hogwarts. We are going to need to get qualifications as to what this test entails. Nigel, I'm going to actually need you to clear my schedule on Thursdays. I'll show that no good prat he's not taking my team away."

Break here

She walked on to the pitch, broom clasped firmly in her right hand. It felt foreign in her fingers, she found them twitching as her grip tightened. Draco was already waiting for her, he feigned checking his watch.

"Well lookie there. Right on time Granger. I see you even came prepared." He nodded to her broom, noting she must have grabbed an extra one from the storage room, "That, however, isn't the broom you'll be using."

Her eyes flashed as she nervously looked to the broom in her hand. Michael and Nigel had selected this broom for her based on her size, ability and lack of skill. They had promised her this was the best broom to start with.

"You'll be riding my broom. With me." Any nervousness she had a moment ago quickly left her body and was replaced with annoyance.

"Malfoy, I'm not riding doubles with you. I'm fine. Can we please just start the lesson now?"

"Granger, you and I both know you are afraid of heights and brooms in general. Until you get over that fear, there is no point in teaching you anything else. Now, unless you want to lose your position, get over here." Dropping the broom with a thud on the grass, she angrily made her way over to Draco. Grabbing her upper arms, he positioned her in front of him, his broom lying on the ground next to him. Her body tensed as he ran his hand down her right arm, pulling it away from her as his hand reached hers. He pulled her hand so her palm was flat, hovering about the broom. Draco leaned into her, speaking low into her ear.

“Just like first year Granger. Be forceful. Make the broom believe you know what you're doing." His voice once again sent shivers down her spine. Hoping he hadn't noticed, she tried to regain her self-control.

"Up!" The broom shook a little, moving side to side as it had all those years ago. Her hand flattered a little in disappointment.

"Come on Granger! Is that really all you got? Say it like you mean it." His hand was resting just on top of hers. He forced her to fully open her palm once more. Taking in a deep breath and letting it back out, with as much force as she could muster she spoke.

"UP!" To her surprise, the broom shot from the ground to her palm, she lost her balance from the force of it, falling back into Draco's chest. Her cheeks flushed in a blush as she rolled her feet forward to stand on her own.

"Great, excellent job Granger." Draco, too appeared to have a slight blush on his cheeks as he took a step away from her. He shoved his hands in his pockets to keep himself from touching her again so soon. "Now put it back and try again."

This continued, each time Hermione successfully bringing the broom up to her hand with every command. Her eyes sparkled each time the wooden shaft slapped her palm. She had finally willed a broom to listen to her and Draco had been the one to make that a reality.


	11. Benched

“I know he’s young, but he was it Miss Granger. The Finches were the only ones willing to make any type of trade.” Removing her sunglasses from her head, Hermione sighed and shook her head at Michael. Lance Morcroft had just arrived via portkey that morning from the states and so far, she was unimpressed. She turned away as he dropped another quaffle. “I’m sure it’s just nerves.”

“O’Kelly!” He turned his attention to her as she approached. “Any chance of running a few extra drills with Morcroft? I want him to be ready next week but currently, my hopes aren’t high.” O’Kelly gave a nod of his head in agreement.

“Of course Miss Granger. Already had it all planned out,” he tapped the clipboard in his hands for emphasis. “I’ve got him running drills the rest of today and tomorrow he’ll have a few private lessons. He’s a bit rough around the edges. I doubt they were even using him as a main reserve. This boy has probably never seen the air of the pitch on game day.” O’Kelly removed the hat from his head, wiping the sweat from his brow. It was an unusually warm day in Falmouth, which was causing his players to act out more than usual. With a blow of his whistle, the team circled up.

“Alright men, it’s going to be a tough game on Sunday. The Ballycastle Bats had a great opening game and we didn’t fair quite as well,” a few teammates glared in Draco’s direction to which he sneered in response. “I have high hopes for us but we need to work as a team to get Morcroft ready.”

Hermione could feel someone’s eyes drift towards her, noticing Rhys giving her an appreciative nod. She looked down, realizing her shirt was not quite appropriate for the pitch and quickly moved her hand to cover her exposed cleavage. His grin was a mile wide until a beater bat hit him on the back of the head.

“Are you dense? Did you learn nothing from Levski? Treat the woman with respect!” Dillon had grabbed Ritchie’s bat and was giving Rhys a stern look. Hermione had noticed that Dillon appeared to be a somewhat responsible and well-rounded person. “Apologize to the lady.”

Rhys rubbed the knot that was slowly growing on his head. “I couldn’t help meself. She’s got a lovely set there, really you do.” He turned his attention to Hermione once more. She turned a dark shade of red and adverted her eyes to the ground as his Irish accent came out think throughout his apology. “But I’m sorry. I’ll try to be less of a tosser from here on, I swear.”

Granted she wasn’t thrilled to yet again be a topic of conversation for the men on her team, she did appreciate his apology and his vow to try not to make her uncomfortable in the future.

“I’d very much appreciate that Craggy. I’d hate to have to replace you as well.” Her tone was stern and he nodded his head in understanding.

“I understand Miss Granger.”

“If you lot are done being fools, can we please get back to practice?” The men nodded their heads in agreement and the whistle blew once more. Taking off in every direction, practice resumed again.

Hermione took a seat in the stands, much lower than she would sit for normal games. She had to admit, the view from down here wasn’t great. She sighed as she looked to her box, thousands of steps away. The sun was beating down of her in her current seat and her hat had been long forgotten in her office.

“Little warm there Granger?” Draco was practicing in less attire then normal. His typical long sleeve shirt was replaced by a plain dark grey team shirt. He at least had the common sense to still have his pads on, though she noted he kept itching at the bare skin underneath them.

“Get back to practice Malfoy. I don’t want a repeat of last week.” She leaned back on, resting her elbows on the bench behind her and stretching her legs to prop up on the seat in front of her. It was hard for Draco not to notice her outfit that day. It was obvious why Rhys had been staring at her. The pencil skirt she had on today seemed shorter than her others, hitting about six inches above her knee. Her normally covered shoulders were bare, exposing her freckling skin. Then there was the matter of her cleavage. Typically a high collared shirt of some kind, it’d been replaced by deep cut blouse, offering a view that many had never seen before. He’d appeared to make his observations unnoticed, as he had yet to have a curse thrown at him.

“All I’m saying is, had you already knew how to fly, you could be in your box by now…” he flashed her a smirk and in return Hermione glared at him. 

“Just go do what you’re supposed to do Malfoy or I’ll replace you with Gudgeon for Sunday’s game.”

“Ha! I don’t believe that for a second.” His lips curved up from a smirk into a genuine grin before he gave a hearty chuckle.

“Don’t push your luck Malfoy. I’m in no mood for your antics today.”

“Granger, you’re not in the mood for anything ever. Have you ever considered pulled the stick you have jammed up your arse out for a day to see what it feels like to be carefree?” Her face reddened at his remark. Hermione didn’t actually want Galvin to replace Draco in the game, but Draco wasn’t giving her much of a choice when it came to standing her ground.

“One more remark and I’m pulling you Malfoy. I mean it.” Her voice was level and her tone low. She’s pulled her sunglasses away from her face, allowing him to see her glaring eyes.

“Prissy bit-“

“O’KELLY!” Hermione stood, looking around Draco for the coach. “Please get Gudgeon out on the field! He’ll be taking Malfoy’s place on Sunday!” The coach dropped his clipboard and threw his hands up in the air. He mumbled to himself but Hermione was much too far away to catch any of it.

“Granger, you can’t be serious. Let me play.”

“Malfoy, I warned you multiple times not to push me and you did, yet again. I glad to have you on this team and I want you to play and win, but I will not allow you to speak to me as you have. Just because we have a history, doesn’t mean I’m not still your boss around here.” She stood and turned around, not bothering to look back at him. He dismounted his broom and had every intention of following her and giving her a piece of his mind but he stopped. That’s what she expected. Pulling him from the game was sure to ruffle his feathers. This had to be payback for the clause in his contract. Well, today he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of wanting to be right. Straightening his back and shoulders, broom in hand, he headed back down to the pitch to finish practice.


	12. Falcons VS Bats

When Draco hadn't come barging into her office later that afternoon, Hermione was surprised. She was so sure that they were going to have it out, she had Nigel clear her schedule for the afternoon. When he never showed, she found herself concerned. 'It's a bit ridiculous when I'm worried about not fighting with that stupid git.'

As she was getting ready to head home, she noticed the lights still on in the pitch. She let out a heavy sigh.

"Nigel! Nigel are you still here?" Her voice cried out in the darkness. No response.

"Well, guess I'm not leaving yet." Gathering her things, she turned the light off in her office and locked the door behind her. It was quite the walk down to the light controls. She mumbled to herself about her stupid idea to protect the panel from magic so an unruly fan couldn't send the match into total darkness. At the time, she'd been very proud of her idea, on nights like tonight when she would much rather go home and soak in the tub, the walk down was long. Flipping open the panel, she located the breaker for the field lights and turned it off.

"Oi! What's the big idea?"

"Malfoy?" Hermione checked her watch, heading towards the sound of his voice. "What are you still doing here? It's almost ten."

Draco came in for a landing in front of her. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the sweat as he did so. "I thought that'd be apparent Granger. I'm flying. And they say you're the brightest witch of our age. A load of shit if I ever heard one." Hermione watched as he tugged his long sleeve shirt off over his head, his white undershirt trying to come with it giving her a view of his stomach. She tried not to look much like before, but the moonlight seemed to reflect off his pale skin. His abs were toned or at least what she could see of them were. Not a single hair littered his chest anywhere.

"Like what you see, Granger?" Her checks flushed pink and she stumbled over her words as she tried to inform him she was not at all interested in seeing anymore of his bare body. His smirk grew as he watched her squirm under his gaze.

"I'd say the jury's still out on that one, Granger. Not a woman on this continent that doesn't want a piece of this." His broom was leaning against his shoulder as he made a grand gesture to himself. She let out a puff at his forwardness and rolled her eyes.

"Malfoy, your skull must be pretty thick. There is no possible way you honestly believe that every woman wants you. You're unbelievable." She threw her hands up in the air before resting her head in one with a pained expression on her face. Draco was a piece of work. She always knew he thought highly of himself, he'd made that glaringly obvious from the first moment she'd met him. However, she was under the impression that normal, well round individuals grew out of such behavior. Apparently it was her mistake in thinking Draco could ever grow to be more than the pompous prat he'd always been. With a shake of her head, she looked towards him again, his smirk still in place.

"Just turn the lights off before you leave tonight please. You're the last one here." She turned to leave but he called out for her.

"Granger, what are the chances you actually let me play in the game on Sunday?" His voice was sincere.

"Slim to none. Once you learn not to be an intolerable git, maybe we can reconsider your placement on the team."

"Placement on the team? Are you saying I'm not out for just Sunday?" Draco's eyes widened in panic.

"That would be correct, Malfoy. Once I see some respect and effort on your part to treat everyone within this organization with respect, we can consider letting you start once again." She ignored his vulgar rant as she turned to leave once more, smug smirk plastered on her face. She knew it was unwise to cause riffs with Draco but she found she couldn't help it. Everything snide comment that came out of his mouth took her back to their Hogwarts days and she found herself falling back into their old routine. But no more. She needed to take control. She had too much to prove to be fighting with Draco at every turn. Maybe this would be the push he needed to finally be a team player.

* * *

 

"WOOHOO!"

"Yeah! Great job guys!" It was Sunday the Falcons had won their first game of the season and there were high fives all around followed by the team chant. Newbie, Lance, was hoisted up on Kenneth's shoulders. It'd seemed that those extra practices had paid off. He was the leader in total points scored, giving Galvin lots of breathing room to find and catch the snitch. It had evaded him for most of the game, but when he finally caught sight of the small, golden ball flying around the Bats goal posts. Victory was finally in their grasp.

 

Draco was more than slightly put off that Galvin had managed to catch the snitch. He had hoped they would lose so Hermione would realize the mistake she'd made and have him put back in as a starter. But Galvin had done great. It seemed he had a lot to prove after being moved from a starter to reserve when Draco had first arrived and was taking advantage of Hermione's decision to cut Draco.

She was cheering for them as they walked down the tunnel towards the locker room, huge smile plastered on her face. He glared at her, but she never once looked at him while she was jumping up and down. His sneer grew larger. He would show her. She wanted a team player, well he could act. He could act well. He'd make her believe that he was a team player. He'd make her believe this team couldn't function without him and after he finished showing her, he'd prove to the owners that he was better fitted for her job. He'd snake it out right from under her. His sneer grew into a smirk as he took a seat on the bench in front of his locker.


	13. Lesson Two

“Granger, I just don’t understand what you’re so afraid of.” They had been on the pitch for about an hour now for flying lesson number two. Hermione currently had her feet planted firmly on the ground. They had gone over some basic instruction which could all be learned from the safety of the grass. However, it was finally time to ride the broom in the air. As much as she’d sworn the week before that she didn’t need to fly doubles, it was becoming glaringly obvious to Draco that the only way he was going to get her in the air, was on a broom with him.

He’d spent this week acting on his best behavior. He listened intently when Coach O’Kelly spoke, he worked well with trainers and handlers, taking their advice and applying it to his flying, he’d even spoken cordially with Nigel when he double checked the time for Hermione’s lesson. All in all, no bad reports on him graced Hermione’s desk that week and she was shocked. When she came down for their lesson, she’d even caught him having a friendly conversation with Dillon who never once put off the impression that Draco was doing or saying anything to make him uncomfortable. When she saw the exchange, she tried her best to suppress the smile trying to grace her lips. It seemed her tough love routine was working after all.

“Granger, do me a favor. Step up and mount the broom at least. You can leave your feet firmly planted if that makes you happy. I won’t make you kick off the ground.” She gave him a questioning look, but did as he asked. She’d successfully called the broom up to her hand once more and placed it between her legs. Her grip on the shaft was tight, her knuckles turning slightly white at her strong hold. She seemed to relax a little when nothing happened right away. Her feet were still safely on the ground and she let out a sigh of relief.

“Good, good. So how does it feel Granger? Your form looks good,” he mentioned as he circled around her. “How’s your grip?”

“I think I’ve got a pretty tight holDDDDD.” Before she could even get the full word out, Draco jumped behind her on the broom, kicking off from the ground and sending them up towards the sky. His arms snaked around her when in a panic, she loosened her grip.

“Granger! Don’t let go. Hold the shaft firmly in your hands. Don’t need you falling off now.”

“Malfoy, what in the bloody hell are you doing?! You promised I wouldn’t have to fly.” Her back was pushed into his chest. He’d slowed their speed a bit but that did nothing to calm her nerves.

“No, I recall I stated YOU wouldn’t have to kick off from the ground. I never said anything about me.” A look of horror crossed her face.

“What about my feet firmly planted?” He chuckled at her as she tried to turn her head to see him.

“I don’t do anything to make you happy Granger. I said you could keep them planted for your happiness. It should have been implied that I could care less.” Her mouth hung open and she elbowed him in the stomach.

“You arrogant arse! Put me back on the ground this instant!” Had she still been on the ground as she currently wished she was, her foot would have stomped in emphasis.

“Oh live a little would you? Sometimes I don’t understand how you walk around with that stick shoved so far up your arse.”

“Malfoy! God, just when I thought you were actually trying to be a decent human being this week, things like that just fall out of your mouth and you trick me onto brooms.” He did his best to hide the smirk creeping onto his face. So she had noticed his change in attitude. He’d been worried that he’d been laying it on too thick too soon, but apparently she didn’t think so. He gave another wicked grin and pushed the broom to fly faster. Her grip tightened until he was sure she’d lost all feeling in them and her scream was killing his ears. He made a sudden dive for the ground and she gave another wail. Pulling the broom back level with the earth below them, they fly at a much lower speed about ten feet off the ground. He felt her relax in front of him slightly, however her knuckles were still tightly gripped around the shaft.

“Hang on tight Granger. You’re about to be in control.” She turned, wide eyed to ask him what he was talking about when his hands suddenly released the broom stick. Hermione shot her head back in front of her, panic flashing in her eyes as his arms stuck straight out on each side. Quickly racking her brain for everything she could remember about control, her grip loosened. Her mind switched from panic to determination as she attempted to put them back on the ground. She leaned forward just a few inches and pointed the shaft of the stick towards the ground below. She kept their pace, not wanting to travel any faster. She felt Draco grab her shoulders for balance as they approached the grassy pitch. Keeping her knees bent, she felt a minor bump as her feet met the grass. She didn’t know at what point she’d closed her eyes, but she opened them now, grin growing on her face once she realized she’d successfully landed.

“At a girl Granger. Should have known I’d have to put you in some _dangerous_ ,” here he air quoted. “Situation for you to finally take control.” He removed his hands from her shoulders and she immediately felt a shiver run down her back at the lack of warm. He allowed her to get off the broom first, not wanting to hit her in the back when he dismounted. Her knees were a little shaky as the adrenaline had worn off. Dropping the broom, he grabbed her arm to steady her. “You alright there Granger?”

“Yeah, I’m just fin-“ He caught her just as her eyes shut and her body went limp.

“Great, just bloody great. They’ll think I’ve killed her…”


	14. The Hospital

“I told you already! I don’t know what happened to her. One moment she was fine and the next she blacked out!” The sound caused her head to pound. She tried to pry her eyes shut tighter, thinking that would somehow make the noise stop. Another voice was speaking now, much more muffled, she couldn’t make out any of the words. They were obviously whispering unlike the first voice. 

“Oh you keep your bloody voice down Weasley! I’m telling you, this isn’t my fault.” Weasley? But which one was here. It’d been months since she’s seen any of them in person. Sure, there were occasional owls and promises for dinners that never happened, but they all seemed to understand. They knew this job would consume most of her time for the first year.

“Well obviously you did something Malfoy or she wouldn’t be in a hospital bed right now!” Ah, so it was Ron and Malfoy currently causing her throbbing headache. What a surprise. More muffled voices, apparently trying to calm the two down.

“Will you two please shut your gapping traps?” Her voice was scratchy. Apparently she’d been out for longer then she thought.

“Hermione!” Her eyes fluttered open a bit, closing again at the harsh sunlight coming in through the window.  Someone must have noticed her flinch as the blinds were quickly drawn closed. She tried again to open her eyes, trying to get them to adjust to the room. She could make out three figures, all very close to her and her bed and another over by the door, calling for a nurse. Blinking a few times, she caught sight of two heads of red hair and another with jet black. A flash of blonde near the door let her know Draco was still here too.

“Oh Hermione, are you okay? We were so worried when they called and said you’d been taken to Mungos. What happened?” Ginny had wrapped her hand tightly around Hermione’s. Ron had taken her other hand in his as well and was rubbing small circles on top of it with his thumb. She just stared at her and Ron’s entangled hands for some time before Harry cleared his throat.

“Hermione, is everything okay?” Her eyes slowly left their tangled hands to come to Harry’s green eyes. She’d seen that look a thousand times. Worry. Letting out a sigh, she gently pulled both of her hands free and gripped the blanket draped over her, pulling it up towards her chest. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was her lesson with Draco, which would explain why he was here. She had just landed the broom for the first time and had successfully gotten off when everything went dark.

They watched her eyes quickly flash, a bit of sweat forming on her forehead. Her mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out. She didn’t have an answer. She had no idea why everything went dark.

“Granger,” her eyes popped over to the blonde by the door. “Did you remember to eat yesterday?” Yesterday? Her eyes darted to the window. It’d been sunny when she first tried to open her eyes, she’d just assumed the sun was setting.

“What time is it?” Her voice was still scratchy. Ginny grabbed a glass of water off the tray, handing it to her.

“’Mione, it’s 7:24 in the morning. You’ve been out all night.” Ginny’s voice was soft, so soft Hermione had to strain her ears to hear her. Was it possible? Had she really blacked out all night? Her mind went back to Draco’s question. Had she eaten yesterday? She remembered grabbing a banana on her way to her office, but had she opened it? She could recall Nigel bringing in her lunch around noon, but had she even managed to take a bite before being called away? Her stomach gave a loud grumble. Apparently, she hadn’t eaten.

“She’s been skipping meals. Everyone on at the stadium has noticed. She’s dropped at least five pounds since I’ve gotten there. Her tits aren’t as big.” Ron’s face immediately went red causing Harry to put a hand on his arm to keep him from swinging.

“Really Malfoy? What are you doing staring at her knockers?” Ginny had turned to face him, arms crossed over her chest.

“Please, it’s not like I’m the one looking. All the men ever talk about is how bloody attractive she is. Those new blouses she’s been wearing haven’t helped her case much. She’s got them on display for the whole world to see. Not my fault if she can’t keep her body to herself.” Hermione stared at him in awe, mouth wide open. “Don’t look at me like that Granger. I’m not the issue here. Why haven’t you been eating?”

“I…eh I haven’t been hungry.” Her voice seemed to have come back with the help of the water. “I’ve been so busy, food has really been an afterthought.” She tried to remember the last time she’s actually eaten a full meal. It had to have been Tuesday. She’d actually had time to finish her entire lunch before being called away. It was now Thrusd-well Friday technically. She hung her head a little in shame. “I’m so sorry you had to come for this. I promise I’ll remember to eat. This doesn’t have to be a big deal.”

Harry released his grip from Ron’s arm, sitting on the bed at Hermione’s side. “It is a big deal though Hermione. We knew this job would be time consuming when you took it, we understood. But now you aren’t taking proper care of yourself and you’ve now forced us to become involved. You’ll come have dinner with us, at least three times a week for a while.” She tried to protest but he stopped her with a hand on her arm. “And what is your assistants’ name?”

“His name is Nigel. Pesky little fellow. Will do anything for her.” Hermione glared at Draco.

“I will get in contact with Nigel today and make sure that he is keeping you properly fed while you’re at work and away for games. I don’t want this getting worse Hermione. You mean too much to me, to all of us.”

“Not me of course, but you already knew that.”

“Malfoy, isn’t it about time you got lost?” Ron sent a sneer in his direction for ruining their moment. Sending him a sneer of his own, he gave a slight nod to Hermione and turned to exit the room.

“Malfoy!” He stopped, turning his head slightly to the side to see her. “Thank you, for uh… for not letting me hit the ground.” Saying nothing in regards to her thanks, he turned once more and stalked out of the hospital room.


	15. Magpies VS Falcons

Hermione took most of Friday off of work, much to her distaste but at the healers request. They had wanted her to take time off for the weekend, however Saturday was the Falcons first away game and with how the team had been behaving recently, skipping it was not an option. The portkey was set to leave at 7:30 that evening and at the urging of her closet friends, Harry would be attending the match with her just to be safe.

It wasn’t that Hermione wasn’t thankful for her dearest friends love and concern, in all honesty she’d much rather have Ginny accompany her however, since Ginny was still playing for the Harpies, they decided for the sake of a possible scandal, it would be better if someone else went in her place. They briefly discussed Ron coming with her but that idea was quickly thrown out the window by Hermione who was in no mood to deal with Ron’s hateful attitude towards Draco. As Draco wasn’t actually playing, she knew he’d be in a foul mood and it would only be a matter of time before he picked a fight with Ron.

Luggage gathered, they met the team down on the pitch. Two different portkeys would be used for their travel today as much of the staff would be in attendance.

“Miss Granger!” Nigel came running down to the pitch, bag in hand very out of breath. “You forgot, you’re bag.” He handed it to her, quickly placing his hands on his knees taking deep, heaving breaths. Clearly he’d run all the way down from her office. She gave him an appreciative thank you.

“Alright mates, it’s time.” Heeding O’Kelly’s words, Hermione leaned in, grabbing a hold of the tire in front of her. She felt the familiar tug on her navel as the world started to spin. She had to admit, traveling by portkey was certainly not her favorite pastime. The continuous spinning left an unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach and at that moment, she wished she hadn’t already eaten. Her discomfort however, was kept to herself. She would not be the only person screaming, wishing for the spinning to stop. The ground finally appeared and with a thud, she managed to stay on her feet, but grasped on to the nearest person for support.

“Granger, I already held you up once, let’s not make a habit of it, yes?” His tone was unamused and she knew he was still fuming that she refused to let him play tomorrow. Draco yanked his arm out of her grasp and bag and broom in tow, followed his teammates to their rooms.

“Alright there Hermione?” Harry’s sparkling eyes searched her face, concern evident on his. She gave a small nod and smile, hoisting her bag up onto her shoulder. They fell into step with Michael, allowing him to take the lead to their rooms.

* * *

 

When she awoke the next morning, she felt refreshed. Harry must have ordered breakfast to be delivered in the morning as it was already waiting for her. Turning on the radio, she happily munched away on her toast listening to the pregame show currently playing.

“Seeker Draco Malfoy will not be playing in today’s game. No reports of an injury have been confirmed at this time. Many rumors have been surrounding the Falcons this season, fueled by Hermione Granger’s appointment at General Manager of the team. We’ve already seen Bogomil Levski traded and replaced by a relatively unknown American chaser and now the team’s starting seeker is benched. What’s the deal here Lee?”

“Well, sources within the team have stated that Malfoy has been pushing all the wrong buttons since arriving about a month ago. Many were shocked to learn of Malfoy’s trade to the Falcons after it was announced Hermione Granger had indeed been in position as GM at the time and requested a trade with the Meteorites specifically for him. I wonder if this move is a show of her regret.”

“Could be Lee, could be.” She tuned out the rest of the show, furious with the comments. This had to be why Michael suggested she not listen to the pregame shows. Hermione looked down at her buttered toast and put it back on the plate, appetite gone.

“Miss Granger I warned you about those talk shows.” Michael turned to look at her as they approached the pitch, Harry in tow. Her face was down and her cheeks were tinged pink. “They dig for information and hardly check for facts because no one here holds them accountable. They are full of rubbish that the public just eats up.”

“Why aren’t they held accountable then?”

“Most host shows from undisclosed locations. The Department for Magical Games and Sports doesn’t feel the need to spend their resources on a solution. To be honest, it has gotten quite out of hand.”

“Maybe things should change then.” Hermione stopped, turning to look at him.

“Hermione, I’m speaking candidly here. As a GM, that is not your concern and no owner wants a GM that can’t keep her nose in her own business. Cries from one disgruntled GM will not get the changes you’d be satisfied with.” His hand rested gently on her shoulder as he looked down at her. Michael was very happy when Hermione had been hired as GM. The last few hired were far from easy to work with. Granted, he’d taken on more responsibility when Hermione came aboard, acting as her hiring assistant, it was refreshing to have upper management as invested as he was. Dealing with players and their constant indiscretions was hard enough even with management on board. Before Hermione, the Falcons previous GM had encouraged inappropriate behavior such as Levski’s. Hermione had nipped that in the butt within a month of being with the team. He would hate to see her replaced already.

The moment passed and the crew continued towards the pitch. Pregame interviews were just finishing up as they approached the team. Catching sight of the trio, cameras began flashing and the group was soon surrounded. Hermione was about to ask Michael what this was about when she remembered.

Harry was with her.

He sheepishly tried to hang his head and stand behind Michael and Hermione, but it was no use. The media had a field day any time Harry was caught out in public. Hermione couldn’t really say her life was much different, however with as much time as she’d spent at work, she couldn’t remember the last time her picture was taken for simply stepping outside.

“Potter! Mr. Potter! Are the rumors true? Have you sold your season box tickets to the Harpies as you’ve started a new relationship with Miss Granger?” A horrified placed itself on Harry’s face. He looked questioningly towards Hermione who just shook her head in response.

“Are you out of you mind? I’m engaged to Ginny! She’d have my arse. I’m not daft.” Harry had stepped out from behind Michael and was making his way towards the reporter when Michael placed an arm in front of his chest, stopping him.

“The Falcons as well as Miss Granger would just like to thank Mr. Potter for attending the match today and for his continued support of this team until the day we play the Harpies. Then we are well aware which team Mr. Potter will be rooting for.” Pushing both Hermione and Harry behind him, they quickly headed towards the team huddle to wish them good luck before making the long trek up to their sky box.

* * *

 

The match was easier than Hermione had anticipated. It didn’t take long for Rhys, Avery and Lance to start racking up the points. Whatever formations they’d been working on together this week, Hermione made a mental note to make sure they continue. Lance still seemed a bit unsure about himself still, but it was hardly noticeable. The few goals that had come Dillon’s way, he’d easily blocked until a bludger came flying in his direction. In his process of dodging, the quaffle went flying through the hoop on the far right. Kenneth sent him a sympathetic sorry and pointed to the opposing chaser he’d been aiming for. Kenneth seemed to be the only member of the Falcon team having an off day. Ritchie’s bludgers were all right on target, causing dropped quaffles and missed blocks by the Magpies chasers. Galvin had spotted the snitch and was in pursuit only thirty minutes into the game. His hand reached out, the golden ball inches from his grasp. Hermione’s fingers dug into the arm of her chair, hoping the game would end when a bludger smacked him square in the back. He lurched forward on his broom, wind knocked out of him but never lost his balance. His breathing was ragged when a timeout was called and O’Kelly and the medics rushed to Galvin as he landed. Flat on his back on the pitch, Hermione could see his chest rising and falling heavily through her omnioculars. She watched in concern as a stretcher appeared and he was removed from the field. Flicking her omnioculars over to the bench, she saw O’Kelly instruct Draco to get ready to go in. She saw in grin as he grabbed his broom and hustled from the bench to the field.

“I thought you benched him for the game?” Harry turned to her questioningly.

“We don’t have a choice. We only have two seekers, it’s not like I have any other options.”

“You could have put me in.” She let out a laugh and turned, giving him her full attention.

“This isn’t like Hogwarts, Harry. You’re not a member of this team. You don’t have a contract, you’re not a salaried player. I can’t just march you down to the field and put a team shirt on your back. Trust me, I would if I could. Besides, you don’t play anymore.” Harry’s shoulders sank a little. Unknown to Hermione, Harry had been jealous of Ginny’s career with the Harpies since she made it on the team. He tried his best to keep the jealous beast at bay around Ginny.

When the crowd roared back to life, Hermione turned her attention to the game. Draco had gotten very little warm up time, so she watched as he did laps around the top of the field, eyes on the prowl for the snitch. A hint of gold flashed out of the corner of her eye. She could see the snitch fluttering softly just to the left of their box. Hermione contemplated yelling out to Draco, but she knew her voice would be lost in the sea of noise. So instead, she found herself screaming in her head.

 _‘Malfoy! Malfoy! Just look over here! We could win if you would just look over here!’_ She fought the urge to also wave her arms like a crazy person. Her heartbeat quickened as his lap brought him to their side of the pitch finally. She closed her eyes, just for a moment hoping he caught sight of the same glittering ball she had.

_‘SWOSH’_

Her smile widened and her eyes popped open. Draco had just darted by them as fast as him broom would take him. She found her arms in the air and was jumping up and down as his hand closed around the snitch. The small Falcon section of the stands roared to life. Hermione threw her arms around Harry’s neck as she continued her jumping. Michael was clapping his hands enthusiastically, talking over the final play with a few people in the box. Harry, due to Hermione’s jumping, had to straighten his glasses once he finally got out of her grasp as she had knocked them wonky during her excitement.

The Falcons had won their first away game and as Draco flew down to meet the rest of his team, his hold on the snitch never loosened. He’d finally helped the Falcons win a game and the smile that currently graced his lips seemed a mile wide.


	16. Lesson Three

"Granger, come on. This is getting ridiculous. Just get your arse over here." Draco was at his breaking point. When he'd started this arrangement with Granger, he'd figured she would catch on quickly as she did with everything else, but flying appeared to be her one weakness. "You've got to pass a test, you know. Weeks are going to start flying by. It'll be January before you know it."

His voice carried to where she was at on the pitch. After last week's incident, she refused to let him get within 20 meters of her. She had once again managed to get the broom in position between her legs, but for the past half hour, her feet had stayed planted firmly on the ground. She practiced leaning, bobbing and weaving but to be honest, but all while doing she was on the ground. She inwardly groaned as Draco's words echoed over to her. They had agreed that Hermione was to take the flying exam during the break between the regular season and play offs. If she wanted to get technical and wait until the last minute, she had until March 7th to complete the exam. Granted, Hermione was normally not a procrastinator, but for this she may have had to make an exception.

"Oh will you just shut your trap! I'm working on it."

"From here, all it looks like you're working on is killing that grass beneath those clunky shoes." Her mouth fell open as she looked down to her feet. 'My shoes aren't clunky. They are rather slim actually…' she thought, glaring across the pitch at him, knowing he wouldn't notice from his distance.

"While we're still young, please, Granger!"

She looked at her feet again. If she could just will herself to give a little push, she wouldn't go too high or at least that's what Malfoy had told her. She wasn't exactly sure if she should believe him or not, but with his slowly approaching figure, she decided it would be better to find out on her own instead of being forced high in the air again.

"Do-Don't come any closer, Malfoy. I'm doing just fine on my own!" She closed her eyes and bent her knees ever so slightly, if he hadn't have been looking, he wouldn't have noticed. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest, she thought it would bust through as she felt her feet leave the ground.

It had to be the slowest rise he'd ever seen. Her feet dragged slowly, from toe to heel as they lifted from the earth. Her knuckles quickly turned white as she tried to keep her balance and not panic. Her eyes were still clenched tight and he could see her internal battle, trying to decide whether or not to open them, dancing across her face. It seemed her curiosity won. Her eyes opened slowly, going straight for the ground. She looked in awe at her dangling feet, kicking them back and forth just slightly, smile plastered on her face.

"I did it! I'm actually flying!"

"Well, I don't know that I consider your dangling feet two inches from the ground 'flying' but at least you're in the air. Now, try moving forward." He was standing to her right, maybe five feet away. She'd determined that would be a safe distance for now. Far enough away that she would see if he tried anything but close enough that if she fell, she'd hope that he'd catch her.

Leaning slightly forward, she felt the broom lurch towards the far side of the pitch. Her speed was slow. Draco rolled his eyes as she inched along. Her knuckles were still white, even at her low height and low speed.

"Maybe you should slow down, Granger. Wouldn't want you to injure yourself." She shot him a dirty look from the corner of her eye, not daring to turn her head for fear the broom would turn.

"Must you always be such an insufferable prat?" His eyes narrowed but before he had a chance to open his mouth, Nigel came running onto the pitch out of breath.

"Miss Granger! An owl came for you. It appears to be from Mr. Potter." He tried to hand the small folded parchment to her, however he hands had no intention of leaving the broom while in the air. With a roll of his eyes, Draco snatched the note from Nigel's hand, unfolding it through Nigel's protests.

"Mr. Malfoy, that is Miss Granger's personal-"

"Oh give it a rest Nigel." Draco had the paper unfolded just as Hermione was about to protest him reading her mail. His eyes scanned the letter quickly.

"Everyone is fine." He noticed her features relax and continued. "Potter can't do dinner. Says they have to reschedule for tomorrow but insists you eat something."

Her face fell into a bit of a pout. She'd actually been excited to grab dinner with Harry and Ginny. She actually wanted to brag a bit about her flying lesson. She leaned back up, bringing the broom to a halt and slowly lowering it the few inches until her feet touched the ground. She dismounted looking to Nigel who was still waiting.

"Was there anything else you needed Nigel?" His feet shuffled awkwardly.

"Miss Granger, I received an owl from Mr. Potter as well, requesting to make sure you ate." It was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes.

"Nigel, I don't believe that will be necessary. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"His letter mentioned you would say that and he insisted that if you do not have a proper dinner I was to let him know." His eyes were cast down to the pitch. This was obviously not a conversation he wanted to be having with his boss.

"Honestly, that man. I'm perfectly fine and can manage to feed myself. I mean really and you Nigel-" Hermione turned her attention to him. Draco noticed him cower just a little.

"Granger," Draco placed his hand on her shoulder, pulling her away from Nigel and taking a deep, irritated breath. "I will feed you. I haven't eaten either and our lesson is just about over. Then Nigel can report away to Potter that you've eaten and I get the satisfaction of him knowing you're spending the evening with me instead."

"Really Malfoy, I'm fine. I'd say your offer is flattering but nothing about what you just said would make me what to have dinner with you." Just as she was about to turn away, her stomach gave a loud, long grumble. 'Great, just great. Excellent timing you stupid pit of a thin' she thought. Keeping herself from throwing a tantrum, she turned back around to both of the men.

"Dinner would be great actually."

* * *

 

After what seemed like hours of trying to decide on a restaurant, Hermione had convinced him that dinner at a muffled establishment would draw much less attention to the pair. Draco had growled in annoyance, upset their picture wouldn't be in the paper to bother both Harry and Ron. Hermione had promptly slapped his shoulder after that. But the rest of the evening had gone rather, well pleasant.   
  
They settled on a pub, not far from Hermione's flat. She'd stated they had excellent fish and chips but Draco was more interested in their beverage selection. Apparently, he had been nursing a weakness for muggle alcohol for a while. With a roll of her eyes and a muttered, "Why am I not surprised?'' under her breath she confirmed that they did have a large selection to choose from. By the time their food had arrived, Draco was already two drinks in while Hermione was barely halfway done with her first.   
  
The pub was surprisingly busy for a Thursday night, but that hadn't stopped Draco from making friends with the barkeep upon their arrival. Putting his empty mug up in the air, the barkeep gave him a nod, filling another glass to the brim.   
  
"Are you sure you should be drinking so much? Doesn't the alcohol affect your physique?" He looked at her with a questioning expression before reaching down and lifting his shirt, exposing his abs to her. Her cheeks flushed red as she tried to gaze anywhere else.   
  
"I dunno, Granger. They look alright to me. What do you think?" His grin grew as she refused to look at him. He let out a hearty laugh at her prudish behavior before dropping his shirt and lifting both their mugs this time.   
  
"Malfoy! I don't need another and to be frank, neither do you."   
  
"Jeez woman. Can't you ever just live a little? The world isn't going to end if you manage to have fun at least once in your life."   
  
Her jaw dropped open. "I have fun, occasionally."  
  
"Reading and working your life away, doesn't count as fun, Granger. If you just pulled that stick from your arse every once in a while…"  
  
"I don't have stick up my arse! Why are you always referencing my body parts?"   
New mugs replaced the old and Draco took a long drink, putting the mug on the counter with a thud. "You have got to be the world's most oblivious person, Granger." Her eyes searched his face for some kind of answer. With a roll of his eyes, he turned on his stool, facing her.   
  
"Granger, you're not a girl anymore," she opened her mouth in protest but he held up his hand, stopping her. "You're a woman and I'll deny it to my grave but you've grown up quite nicely. I'm not sure where you were hiding all this before," he gestured to her. "But you're very attractive. Someone would have to be an idiot not to notice it. Why do you think the guys on the team are always talking about you? You're the only decent woman most of them see."   
  
Her face had gone red by this point. Grabbing her mug, she took a long gulp. Draco watched in awe as her mug went from full to empty. When she realized the cup had emptied as well, she placed it back on the bar top, face still red.   
  
"Another then?" All she could manage was a nod of her head as Draco called the barkeep once again. 

* * *

The walk back to her flat had been anything but awkward. They both laughed, Hermione noting that she very much preferred his laughter over his snide remarks. He'd just said something particularly funny and Hermione was holding her stomach as the laughter was beginning to cause pain. She leaned over, bumping into him and he did his best to stabilize her, put his arm around her waist.   
  
"Well, Malfoy. This was actually really nice. Thank you again." She gave a smile up at him as they approached her door. Realizing how close they suddenly were, she tried to step back, only to find herself tripping over her own feet.   
  
"Careful there, Granger. Can't have you going and getting hurt. Potter and Weasel would never forgive me."  
  
"Weasley."   
  
"What?" He looked down at her with question. Her brown eyes turned up to look at him as she regained her balance.   
  
"His name. It's Weasley. Not Weasel. He's not an animal." He scoffed at her.

  
"Could've fooled me with how he eats." She gave him a push in the chest, her inebriated state diminishing her strength. When he didn't move at her push, she pouted up at him, bottom lip sticking out slightly.   
  
His breath caught in his throat at the sight of it. He'd never before been close enough to her to study her face. Her lips were plump, especially her bottom one as it pouted up at him. Her hair had loosened from its clip on the back of her head and had fallen around her face. He's always just assumed her eyes were dirty brown but at this angle, in the light of her porch light, he could see speckles of honey. When he realized how long he'd been staring for, he stepped a bit away from her, arm still steadying her around the waist.   
  
"Better get in there, Granger. It's rather late and I know you like to be at the office early. Plus that hangover in the morning may be a bit rough." He watched as she fished out her keys from her clutch, fumbling a bit to place them in the lock. After her third attempt, he reached for them, brushing her hand slightly with his fingers. Her eyes looked up to his once more and watched as he also fumbled through the keys, finally finding the correct one.   
  
"You'll be alright, getting in and all?" She found herself nodding as his hand released her waist. "Goodnight, Granger." He gave her one last smile before turning to leave.   
  
Leaning against the open door frame, she stared after him watching as his outline headed up the street until she could no longer see him. Her heart beat in her chest.   
  
"Oh bloody hell."


	17. Tornados VS Falcons

Hermione hadn't spoken with Draco since he took her home after their late dinner. In all honesty, she was a bit frightened to talk to him. After their strange goodbye on her front porch, the next morning she was certain that the both of them had enjoyed just a few too many drinks. She in no way found herself attracted a to a certain blonde quidditch player, currently under her employment and she was determined to keep it that way.

                                                                              
She avoided the field all of Friday sticking to her office, leaving only for meetings. Saturday she'd spent the day with Ginny, trying to keep from blabbing about her dinner with Draco. She was pleasantly surprised to find that they had appeared to not be followed during the said 'date'. She had nervously searched all sections of the Prophet Friday morning and was delighted to not find herself mentioned. She'd checked Saturday as well, just in case the pictures hadn't made it to print yet but nothing turned up.   
  
When Sunday came around, she found herself at the pitch, getting ready to head to the next away game with the team. Monday would find them playing the Tutshill Tornados, who were yet to win a game. Spirits were high as they gathered around, waiting for the clock to strike six in the evening. They had a team dinner planned for the evening with the hope of keeping the team comradery going. Since their last win against the Magpies, the team had been meshing together better then Hermione could have expected or hoped, even. They were chummy while practicing, and when walking throughout the facility but they were also focused, listening to each other, and working together. As much as she wanted to take credit for the sudden change in the team, she knew a lot of it had to do with Draco's change in behavior.   
  
He scolded much less, instead laughing and joking with his teammates. It was a strange sight to see. Hermione was sure she'd been imaging it during their dinner, but his displays over the last few days told her otherwise.   
  
As she approached the pitch, bags in tow, he caught her eye and gave a simple nod of the head. Hermione dropped her eyes to the ground, hoping to hide her reddening cheeks.   
  
"Alright, crew. Portkey will be leaving in five minutes. Once we arrive, drop your bags, gear up in your rooms and meet back down in the lobby for dinner," O'Kelly's voice boomed over the noise and she caught a few teammates high-fiving as room assignments were passed out.   
  
"Only woman again, Miss. Granger. Room to yourself." Michael gave her a smile as he handed her the room key. Hermione returned his smile and looked down at the key in her hand. This would be her first away game alone. Last week Harry had accompanied her and they'd shared a room. This time, she'd have to sleep alone.   
  
"It's time, you lot. Everyone grab on!" Bags clutched tightly in hand, she once again felt that familiar tug at her navel as they were carried off, vision going slightly blurry as they spun to their destination. Her feet finally landed with a thud and she swayed a bit, but maintained her balance this time.   
  
"Like I said before, equipment drop, then back down here for grub." The men of the team cheered as they headed for their respective rooms.   
  
"Miss Granger, you are joining us, correct?" Hermione honestly hadn't considered that she would be part of the dinner. She had been under the impression the outing had been planned as a team bonding experience. As much as she wanted to say no, just to keep extra distance from Draco, she knew she could not avoid him forever.   
  
"Of course," she flashed O'Kelly a smile which he returned. "I'll just go drop my bags and be right back down." She headed for the lift, noting she had just missed one going up. Pushing the button, she waited taking no notice as someone stepped up next to her.  
  
"Granger." She didn't look at him right away. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath _. 'Maybe I should have just tried harder to avoid him.'_  
  
"Malfoy." She returned his greeting, staring at the lift, praying to anyone that was listening to not let her be left alone with Draco on the lift. She heard the ping as the doors opened. Her face fell as no attendant met them.   
  
"After you." She mumbled a quiet thank you as Draco allowed her access to the lift first. She readjusted her bags, turning to stare at Draco as he grabbed one of her bags for her.   
  
"Malfoy, really, I can manage on my own." He didn't look at her as they entered the lift. He turned, facing the gate, looking straight ahead.   
  
"I didn't ask you if you could, Granger. A gentleman assists a lady." Her eyes studied his face, trying to find an ulterior motive for his behavior, but she found none. With a nod of her head, she gave him a small smile and decided not to fight his chivalry. The ride was silent as they slowly climbed floor after floor. Hermione found herself sneaking glances out of the corner of her eye towards Draco, wondering if he would mention their dinner date.   
  
The elevator tinged and the gates slide open. He motioned once again for her to go first. She stated again he didn't need to help her, that she really could manage to drag her bag to her room but he insisted. Being alone with him again sent shivers up her spine. She could feel his eyes boring into her backside. They reached the door and she grabbed for her bag, their hands barely touching. Her cheeks flushed red and she turned away, putting the key into the lock.   
  
"Thank you, Malfoy. That was very kind of you." He gave her a smile, a genuine smile before turning and heading back towards the lift. Her heart gave a heavy pound in her chest and her eyes grew wide in surprise. Looking down, she mumbled under her breath.  
  
"Shut up, you stupid thing! Act professionally!" When she raised her head back up, after giving her heart a talking to, she could see Draco eyeing her suspiciously. Reddening her cheeks once again, she quickly darted into her room and out of his view, slamming the door behind her. With her back resting on the now closed door, she sank to the floor burying her hands deep in her hair.  
  
"God! I have feelings for Malfoy! Malfoy! After one dinner! What's wrong with me?"


	18. Team Dinner

Dinner had been dreadful. After coming to terms with her feelings only minutes before she headed back down, she found herself unable to even look in Draco's direction. She'd been so distracted by trying to avoid his gaze, the only seat left at the table was next to him. She inwardly groaned, twisting her bag nervously in her hands as he rose from his seat to pull out her chair. She gave a polite nod, still refusing to meet his gaze. Draco gave her an odd look, but pushed her chair in, then re-taking his seat.   
  
Hermione thanked whoever was listening, when she realized Dillon was seated to her left. She quite enjoyed his company and was glad he appeared to be more mature then most members of the team.   
"So, Miss Granger, how did you end up here?" Hermione swallowed the remaining food in her mouth, washing it down with a drink of wine before turning her full attention to Dillon.  
  
"Please, call me Hermione. I feel so silly when you all address me so formally when it's just us." He gave a nod and a smile before she went on. "It's been quite the experience that's for sure. When they offered me the position, I was certainly confused. It's commonly known that I wasn't a huge fan of Quidditch. But apparently they'd seen the work I'd been doing, turning businesses around, making them profitable again and asked me to write up a plan for turning this franchise around. It took me most of the summer to do my research. I understood the premise of the game, having been to enough matches during my Hogwarts days, but I knew nothing of the professional teams or the current players. I mocked them up a new business plan; you know advertising, cost analyses, where they could stand to cut funding to use it in a more beneficial area. I also gave them a mock roster, taking into consideration which of you, the players, already had contracts, what your contracts were held for, who could they afford to buy out to replace with someone at a lower pay scale but just as much talent. It was a whirlwind after that. I presented my findings to Robert Timmions, the owner and he asked me on the spot when I could start. So here I am." Her story had gathered the attention of most of the players. It became glaringly obvious to her that no one had mentioned to them how the General Manager position had become hers. She tried to keep her cheeks from reddening once again and grabbed her wine, taking another sip.   
  
"Well, Hermione," she set her glass back down turning once again to Dillon. "We are rather happy to have you on board. I know it's still pretty early in the season, but we've got high hopes for this year thanks to you. So," he raised the glass in front of him, pushing his chair back and standing. "To Hermione and Coach O'Kelly! We're gonna win this season, I can feel it!" The remaining team members raised their glasses as well, excitedly clinking glasses together. Hermione clinked with Dillon then turned to her left, forgetting Draco was still seated next to her.   
  
"To you, Granger." He tipped his glass to hers, eyes boring into hers. The look sent shivers up and down her spine and she could feel the goose bumps shimmy up her arms and legs. She tried to shake the feeling but she found herself unable to look away from him. After what felt like an eternity, she snapped out of her gaze realizing her glass was still clinked with Draco's. She pulled it back suddenly, sloshing the contents over the rim and onto her plate and lap.   
  
"Oh bullocks!" Hermione quickly stood, trying to remove the liquid from her lap before it seeped through her dress. Both Dillon and Draco were quick with their napkins, trusting them in her direction. Muttering a thank you, she wiped at the spill, cursing under her breath for not bringing her wand down with her. She made quick excuses, thanked the team for inviting her to a lovely dinner and left the table, bound for her room.   
  
Hermione was still wiping at her dress and cursing under her breath as she waited in the hotel lobby for the lift to come down. She jumped a little when she felt a large, warm hand on her shoulder. Hand held to her chest in surprise, she turned finding the warm eyes of Dillon.   
  
"Oh! Did I forget something?" Her eyes searched his hands, looking for an item she may have left behind. He looked towards her nervously, raising his left hand to rub the back of his neck as he rocked from his heels to the balls of his feet.   
  
"Err, no actually. I was just wondering, Hermione," she smiled as her first name rolled out of his mouth. "If you'd be interested in grabbing dinner, drinks, maybe coffee sometime." Her eyes opened wide in surprise. Michael had warned her this could happen when they'd filled out her new hire paperwork. At the time, she had brushed it off believing she could never be interested in any of the men she was overseeing but Dillon was a genuinely good person. He was polite, personable, respectful.   
  
But as she looked up into his eyes, they weren't eyes she had hoped to see. His were too blue, too deep, too warm. The eyes she was currently interested in were so bright, so mysterious, so cold.   
  
"I'm so sorry, Dillon, if I gave you the wrong impression during dinner just now. It just wouldn't be very professional for me to begin dating one of the players. I'm already receiving quite a bit of flak from the media. I'm not interested in fueling that fire." His face feel and it made her heart ache a little. Dillon awkwardly shuffled his feet, eyes focused on the tile floor under his feet.   
  
"I understand Her- Miss Granger. Have a good evening." With that he turned, she assumed headed back to dinner. She tried to call out to him, to assure him that her answer had nothing to do with him as a person but he was gone before she could even finish saying his name.   
  
She let out a heavy sigh, leaning against the cool tiled wall and pressing the button once more. She'd missed the first lift.


	19. Making Plans

“And in Quidditch news, the Falcons beat the Tornados yesterday evening in a close match. Newcomer Lance Morcroft scored a season high of 16 goals. Apparently his trade to the Falcons was just the push his career needed.”

“Luckily for keeper Dill Horton-Jenkins,” the other commentator piped in. “He seemed to be having an off night, allowing 28 goals to fly threw his hoop. Typically the seasoned keeper does a better job of defending the hoops. Seeker Draco Malfoy spent much of the match just on the heels of the golden snitch.”

“Right you are Jim. Last night’s snitch was quite the bugger, maneuvering like we’re never seen. However, since reserve seeker Galvin Gudgeon took that fall during the Magpies game, Draco Malfoy has once again rejoined the starters.”

“It was interesting to see Galvin start that game. I know we discussed it last week Tom, but I don’t know what Coach O’Kelly was thinking there. I mean, they made it perfectly clear prior to the season starting that Malfoy was to take the seeker position as starter then the bench him during game three? It’s unheard of.”

“I won’t fuel the rumor mill too much, but I heard it was General Manager Hermione Granger’s call to bench Malfoy-.” The radio clicked off, causing Hermione to pop her head up in protest. Her eyes softened and her cheeks roused pink as she looked up into the face of Michael.

“Hermione,” he scolded as he took a seat in front of her desk. “We talked about this already. Those radio shows are garbage. It’s not good for you to listen to them. They bog down your brain and put unnecessary doubts in your mind.” She cast her eyes back down to her work in front of her and set down her pen, letting out a deep sigh.

“I know, I know. It’s just, I want to know. I have to know what they think.” Michael gave her a small chuckle.

“Oh Hermione, I do hope this is something you grow out of. For your sake.”

“Miss Granger. I have your lunch.” Nigel appeared at her door and she rolled her eyes in a very unprofessional manner before closing them in annoyance.

“What did Harry have you bring me today?” He took no notice to her behavior, as it had become the norm since Harry personally instructed him to make sure his boss was eating regular meals. Nigel wasn’t too thrilled about the idea, but the regular bonus check he was receiving from Harry every week made the trouble worth it.

“Just a simple sandwich and some chips. Nothing over the top Miss Granger.” He set the tray down on her desk before turning to exit her office. “Oh and Miss Granger?” Hermione looked from the sandwich back to Nigel, cursing him for the hunger pains now shooting up inside her. She grabbed the sandwich, taking a bite, nodding for Nigel to go on.

“Draco Malfoy would like to see you. Shall I arrange a meeting?” She nearly choked on the bite in her mouth.

“NO!” Both Nigel and Michael gave her an odd look as her lunch nearly flew from her mouth. She put up a finger, to ask them for a moment, chewed and took a drink from the cup on her desk. “I just mean, can you ask him if it can wait until Thursday? I’m awfully busy this week.” Nigel gave her a questioning look, knowing very well she had breaks in her schedule for just this type of meeting.

“He states its urgent Miss Granger.” Gritting her teeth, she reminded herself that she had no one to blame but herself for Draco’s presence on her team.

“Fine. I’ll see him now. I have no other time today. If it’s really so urgent, he should be available.” Hermione crossed her fingers, secretly hoping Draco was not in the facility today and his request had come by owl.

“I’ll send him right in then.”

“He’s here? Already?” Michael once again let out a small chuckle at her behavior and stood to leave.

“Well, I better get going then. Have a pleasant afternoon Miss Granger.” Hermione glared at him as he headed for her door. She watched as Michael nodded in Draco’s direction as he entered her office, taking Michael’s empty seat.

“So glad to see you’re keeping your word to Potter. You’re bust however, doesn’t show that.” Draco quickly scanned his eyes over her breasts coming back up to rest on her beat red face. Her teeth were gritted and he could tell she was trying hard to manage her frustration.

“What can I do for you Malfoy?” Her tone was harsh and cold.

“What crawled up your arse this afternoon Granger?” He watched as she clenched and unclenched her fists, frustration building. When he’d asked for a meeting, he had no intention of rattling her cage like this, but the way her face scrunched when she was frustrated with him was too adorable for him to not.

….

Wait. Did he just think something about Hermione Granger was…adorable? He focused on her face again. Her expression had changed from frustrated to annoyed. He watched her as her face scrunched up once more as she contemplated answering his rude question. She opened her mouth and words came out, but honestly, he hadn’t heard her. Another thought came to mind. He straightened in his chair and looked up and down what he could see of her.

There was no denying she was an attractive woman. She was thin, but not sickly. Tan, but not dark. Pretty, but not overdone. She had grown.

“Granger,” he interrupted her. “I was thinking dinner on Thursday. Instead of lessons.” Her eyes narrowed as she thought for a moment.

“What’s the catch? I can’t imagine I could just get out of lessons with dinner.” He pondered for a moment.

“No catch. Just dinner. Maybe not so muggle this time.” Hermione was silent for some time. He watched as she weighed the pros and cons of his offer. He found himself fidgeting with the arm of the chair as he waited for a response.

“Fine. But nowhere fancy. I don’t want to have to dress up.” A smirk crept to his lips as he stood, holding his hand out to hers to shake.

“It’s a date then.”


	20. Family Dinner

"Hermione, are you sure this is a good idea?" It was Wednesday, and Hermione found herself at the Potter's for her weekly dinner. She had to admit, as annoyed as she was when her presence was requested at dinner three times a week, she did enjoy the time she was forced to put aside for these dinners. It had been so long since the four of them had spent time together, Hermione soon realized it was something she missed.   
  
"No, I'm not sure, Ginny. But the thought of getting back on that broom is unnerving. Besides, it's just one dinner." Hermione placed a plate on the table, arranging the silverware around it.   
  
"Technically, this would be your second dinner, third if you count the team dinner. You do you know what's expected of you on a third date don't you Hermione?" Hermione's jaw dropped a bit as Ginny set the main course on the table.  
"It's not a date Ginny!" Ginny just smiled.  
  
"Who's got a date?" At the smell of a cooked meal, Ron appeared in the doorway, reaching towards the plated pot roast only to have his hand slapped away by Ginny.  
"You can wait until we're all seated, Ron. Honestly." She gave a huff and called for Harry, before taking her seat. "Hermione has a date."  
  
"It's not a date, Gin!" The brunette had taken her seat and was placing her napkin in her lap with more force then necessary.   
  
"A date with who?" Ron eyed the pot roast, earning a stern look from Ginny.  
  
"It's not a date. I'm just going to dinner. It's nothing."  
  
"Who's going to dinner?" Harry had just entered, planting a kiss on Ginny's cheek before taking a seat next to Ron.  
  
"'Mione's got a dinner date." Ginny sang as she too, took her place. Reaching for the pot roast, Ginny cut it up, passing the platter around the table.   
  
"It's not a date!" Hermione looked up to the ceiling in frustration.  
  
"Who's the lucky bloke?" Ron's meat hardly touched his plate before the first piece found it's way into his mouth.   
  
"For the last time. IT'S NOT A DATE. It's just dinner. With someone I know from work." Ginny couldn't help the smile growing on her face. Hermione looked towards her, silently begging her not to mention who her dinner companion was.  
  
"Ugh, you're not seeing Krum again are you? I don't think my stomach could handle that." Ron stuck his tongue out in disgust, pulling a face.   
  
"No, Ron. I haven't seen Victor in years."  
  
"Who is it then Hermione?" She pushed her carrots around her plate, trying to avoid Harry's question.   
  
"DracoMalfoy." Her voice was quiet and his name ran together. Harry leaned closer to her, straining to hear her.  
  
"Who?" She once again said his name fast and low, not being heard over the sound of Ron chewing.   
  
"Ron, chew with your mouth closed. Hermione, repeat the name for me again. I can't hear you." Her face turned pink and she looked down to the napkin in her lap. Ginny huffed, blowing her bangs out of her face.   
  
"Oh for Godrics sake. She has a date with Malfoy!" Hermione turned looked at the red head and glared. She heard the clattering of Ron's fork as it hit his plate and he choked on his food. Harry's face had lost all color, his fork in hand suspended in midair. Her blush deepened. She could hear Ron still struggling with the food in his mouth. She gave him a hard pat on the back, apparently clearing the way for him to be able to swallow the large mouthful down.   
  
"Hermione, are you out of your bloody mind? You can't go on a date with Malfoy! He's a git!" His arms were waving wildly in the air. She scoffed. And he thought she was the crazy one.   
  
"Ron, it's not a date. We're just having dinner instead of flying lessons. That's all." Ron's face grew redder with rage by the minute.  
  
"Flying lessons?! What do you need flying lessons for, especially from the likes of him? Harry and I could have taught you!" Hermione cursed under her breath. She knew there was a reason she had only told Ginny bout her arrangement with Draco.   
  
"It's in his contract. He wouldn't sign unless I agreed." She pushed her plate away; dinner was obviously spoilt at this point.   
  
"I'll kill that ferret. Wring his bloody neck." Ron had gotten up from the table and was pacing the floor, muttering under his breath. Hermione put her elbows on the table, leaning forward to rest her head in her hands.   
  
"It's not a big deal Ron. Seriously," she sighed.   
  
"Not a big deal? Not a big DEAL? Hermione, he's taking advantage of you. How could you let this happen?" Her expression changed from annoyed to furious. Lifting her head, she yanked her elbows from the table, pushed her chair back hard and jumped to her feet poking her finger into his chest with each word.   
  
"Now you listen to me Ronald Weasley. I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions and living my own life. You do not have any say in the matter as I do not answer to you. As a friend, I will listen to your concerns and do what I feel is appropriate regarding MY life. If you have an issue with that, then I suggest you find another friend!" His angered expression melted as his eyes were cast on the wooden floor beneath his feet.   
  
"Thank you all for dinner this evening. I think I'll be heading home now." She did not stop at their protests as they yelled after her, but instead made her way to the floo without another word. She arrived home and sunk into her couch, willing the tears not to fall. Crookshanks meowed at her from the floor before jumping up to join her. She allowed the half-Kneazle to rest in her lap as she absentmindedly ran her hand down his back.  
  
"Harry and Ron can't even accept me having dinner with him Crook. What are they going to do when they find out I'm attracted to him?" The cat stared up at her with his orange eyes. He let out what she hoped was a reassuring meow.   
  
"Maybe, just maybe," she sighed.


	21. The Not-A-Date

Looking at the clock on the wall, Hermione fixed her blouse nervously. It was almost six. Draco had sent word with Nigel that he would be there to get her no later than six. Shuffling the papers on her desk, she fidgeted with her pen, trying to keep her leg from shaking. After her dinner at the Potter's, Hermione had a hard time shaking the word date from her mind. She'd recalled Draco saying it was a date, the word date echoing in her mind over and over. This couldn't be a date. Hermione didn't date her players. Or at least she hadn't planned to.   
  
Her thoughts went back to Dillon and the crushed look on his face when she declined his offer. Surely this was different. She had a history with Draco, he would understand. 'Not that our history is friendly however,' she thought to herself begrudgingly. A crinkle placed itself on her brow as she lost herself in her thoughts. All day, she'd been weighing the pros and cons on accompanying Draco to dinner. She had to admit, her con list was much longer than her pros, but skipping her flying lesson was written in all caps at the top on her pro's list, and that had been her driving decision. Well, that and how she found Draco rather dashing in his Quidditch uniform, but she had obviously refused to put that on her list.   
  
Her thoughts were broken by a knock on her door. She muttered a quiet "Come in," and looked up at Draco entered her office. His hair was slightly damp from a recent shower, and his cheeks were tinged pink. He seemed slightly out of breath as well.  
  
"Sorry I'm late. Practice ran long and for both our sakes, a shower was necessary. Are you ready?" The witch found herself unable to say much more than a simple yes. She was finding it hard to focus on much of anything except the way Draco's wet hair hung just over his eyes when he moved. She watched as he ran a free hand through it, trying to get it to stay in place. He looked so at ease. "Shall we then, Granger?"  
  
Hermione stood, grabbing her jacket from the coat hanger next to her desk and throwing it over her arm. She looked at his choice in clothing once more and suddenly felt overdressed next to him. Her grey pencil skirt and floral blouse seemed like too much for his black Dockers and forest green jumper. He sensed her anxiety and took her coat from her arms, offering to help her in to it.   
  
"Don't worry. You look fine-we're just grabbing dinner at a pub." Giving a hopeful nod, she followed him out of her office.   
  
The night was chilly once they finally made it to the stadium exit. The sky was clear, which was surprising for a late November night. The walk to the pub wasn't far. They made small talk along the way. Hermione had questions as to how practice was going and if the team would be ready for Sunday's game. Draco asked her about her meetings and the direction the team was heading. She had to admit, it was far from an unpleasant conversation. She was surprised that Draco had so much knowledge in regards to how the team and franchise functioned as a whole.   
  
As they neared the pub, they could hear the muffled sounds of music trying to break free. Hermione thanked Draco politely as he held the door for her, allowing her to enter. It took a moment for her ears to adjust to the noise. A live band was set up on a small stage in the corner. People laughed and spoke merrily at tables littered the space. Unable to see an unoccupied table, Hermione pointed to the bar at a few empty stools and Draco nodded his head in approval.   
  
"Can we get two pints please and menus?" The barkeep recognized Draco's blonde hair instantly and quickly went about filling the mugs and grabbing menus. Hermione seemed a bit unnerved by the extra attention. She'd never really been one to enjoy the limelight. She did manage to thank the barkeep as he dropped off their drinks, looking over the menu as Draco quickly signed an autograph for the older man.   
  
"Do you honestly enjoy this type of attention?" Draco gave her a shrug of his shoulders, before taking a long drink.   
  
"I'd much prefer this type of recognition then what it could have been had our family name not been cleared at the end of the war. I've worked hard to make something of myself, to be something more than the life that was thrust at me. I'm not longer, 'Death eater Malfoy'. Now I'm star seeker for the Falmouth Falcons. I'll take positive publicity any day." He took another long drink for his mug as Hermione stared down at hers. They hadn't spoken about the war since he'd joined her team. To be quite frank, she didn't enjoy speaking of that dark time with anyone. The months after had been rough on her, feeling alone and unable to successful relocate her parents. She'd begged Harry and Ron to stop talking about it. The vivid images that flashed through her dreams every night were enough. She shook the thought, not wanting to dwell on that time any longer.   
  
Food ordered and first drinks half gone, they discussed happy topics, prominently Quidditch. She laughed deeply as Draco ripped apart team after team explaining to her how the Falcons were superior. She'd argue some points, but in all reality, she was sure Draco knew the players much better than she did.  
  
"I mean the Harpies aren't half bad, but they need a decent seeker. Weaslette is the only reason they haven't lost yet this season."  
  
"Malfoy, did I just hear you say something nice about a Weasley?" Hermione's smile grew and Draco turned a slight shade of green-probably disgusted by the words he had just uttered.   
  
"Don't you dare tell her I told you that. Her gab is so large, all of London would know within hours." Her smile grew as she knew his statement to be true. She held her hand up to her lips, pretended to lock them and threw away the key. Draco stared at her with an odd expression and she could help but laugh.  
  
"My lips are locked? Sealed and the key thrown away? You've never seen that before?" His blank expression told her it was way over his head. "My goodness, how sad."   
  
"I don't need your pity, Granger." He finished his pint, signaling for another. Hermione scowled at his comment, turning away from him in a huff. Why did he have to ruin every nice moment with his big mouth? Taking another drink, she stared off at their reflection in the mirror behind the bar. She could see Draco muttering to himself, but she couldn't hear anything. She watched as he scowled, appearing to be arguing with himself. Hermione knew this was a private moment he was having but couldn't seem to look away. 


	22. Confessions

“Gin, it was terrible!” Hermione flopped herself down on the couch in her office. The redhead gave a smirk from her seat behind Hermione’s desk. This was her first visit to Hermione’s office and she’d oohed and aahed at the furnishings and the over sized mahogany desk. Ginny quickly settled in and to Hermione’s displeasure propped her feet up on the desk. “He made some comment and it was just….so awkward after that. We hardly spoke two words the rest of the evening. Worst date in the history of dates.”

Ginny looked over at the brunette. She’d thrown her arm over her eyes and her ankles were crossed, resting on the arm of the couch. “I eh, thought it wasn’t a date Hermione?” Ginny tried to hide her smile as Hermione threw her arm off her face and bolted straight up on the couch, glaring in Ginny’s direction.

“YOU! This is all your fault! I told you it wasn’t a date and now all I can think of it as was a date and just the worse date at that.” She slumped back down on the sofa, ready to give up for the day. Ginny let out a sigh as she reluctantly removed her feet from Hermione’s desk and made her way over to where her friend sat defeated.

“Hermione, it couldn’t have been that bad.” Ginny wrapped her arm around her in a comforting gesture and felt Hermione’s body shake and for a moment Ginny panicked, thinking Hermione had started crying. She racked her brain, trying to remember the proper way to comfort someone in this type of situation, but felt relief rush over her as the girl in question began laughing. It had started small at first, just a quiet chuckle but it grew quickly, overtaking Hermione’s normally composed figure. Unsure of what to do, Ginny awkwardly laughed along with her, staring at her all the while.

“That,” she managed to get out between laughs. “Was how awkward the whole last half of our dinner went. Granted, Malfoy wasn’t laughing like a maniac.”

“Well, what are you going to do then Hermione? You may be trying to hide how you feel from him and everyone else, but I can see it. I can tell. You’ve got a soft spot for him. He pushes your buttons and you like it. He challenges you.” Hermione curled her bottom lip between her teeth, a nervous habit she had recently picked up. Ginny was right and if she could see it, it was only a matter of time before it would be too obvious to hide anymore. She let out a sigh and fell back into the couch once more. Ginny mimicked her, falling back as well. Hermione rolled her head to the side and rested it on Ginny’s shoulder.

“You want to what? Hermione, you’ve got to be out of your mind! I respect you as a boss and if that is what you want then fine, we can look into it but are you sure?” Michael looked up and her from his desk. It was becoming a regular occurrence for Hermione to make her way down to his office for meetings instead of dragging him up to hers. He had to admit, he much preferred it. The last General Manager the Falcons employed had been a real piece of work in Michael’s opinion, so Hermione was like a breath of fresh air. Today, however, he wasn’t so sure.

He watched as she let out a frustrated sigh, ran her hand through her already tousled hair and paced the space in front of his desk.

“He won us the game on Sunday against the Wasps. Are you sure you want to trade him?” He watched as she opened her mouth to speak, quickly shutting it again. “Hermione, what’s going on?”

Her internal battle was difficult to watch. At any moment he was sure she would just explode. She finally sat herself down in the chair in front of his desk, but her fidgeting had not ceased. “I can’t keep spending time with him Michael. These lessons, traveling with the team, dinners. It’s too much.”

“Is he saying or doing something to upset you Hermione?” Michael eyed her suspiciously. As far as he had heard, Draco was doing much better at interacting with his teammates and working as a team player. Had he been taking all of his frustrations out on Hermione instead?

“Not exactly.” Her eyes were on the floor and she refused to lift her head and meet his gaze. After minutes of silence, he heard her let out another frustrated sigh before mumbling.

“I’m sorry, couldn’t quite hear you.” He received another mumble in response. “Still not quiet catching that Hermione.”

“I LIKE HIM, OKAY?” Her words came out much louder than she had expected and her hands quickly shot to her mouth in disbelief.  She felt her cheeks turn red and instantly wished she was somewhere else. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout like that.”

Michael just stared at her, trying to process the information. It had only been about a month since Draco had arrived at the facility and with all the history of the pairs past, Michael was doubtful in the first place they’d be able to get along. That had been part of the reason he’d allowed the clause in Draco’s contract. He needed the pair to function together in peace for this to work. But he had not been expecting this. Especially not this soon and now she wanted to trade him away. Granted, if that was her final decision, there wasn’t much he could do. She had final say.

“It’s quite alright Miss Granger,” she took note of his use of her proper name and just nodded her head. “Now, is there any other reason why we as a team should trade Draco Malfoy besides your personal opinion?” Her cheeks flushed again and she shook her head. Besides his advances on her, Draco had been a great asset to the Falcons so far.

“Then alright, shall we weigh some options then if you’re up for alternatives?” He watched as she mulled the idea around in her mind. He was sure she may not like his alternative options either, but if he wanted to keep Draco on the team and out of Hermione’s personal feelings, he may have to put someone else there instead.


	23. Lesson Four

"Have you heard the rumors about Granger yet?" The locker room was loud, but the noise seemed to die down at Ritchie's question. Draco faked an interest in his finger nails but listened intently.

"I heard she was trying to trade one of us." Michael pipped up.

"The women would be daft to trade one of us now! We're on a winning streak."

"Winning four games in a row is hardly a streak Craggy." Rhys shot a dirty look to Dillon as he removed a wet towel from his face.

"That's not the rumor I'm talking about. I heard she started seeing someone."

"Good, maybe now she'll pull that stick out of her arse," there was a murmur of agreement to Kenneth's statement.

"Who'd be brave enough to see her?"

"I bet you she's mad in the sack." Towels all flew in Rhys direction once again.

"Is that all you think about mate?"

"You've seen the way she dresses! I can't be the only one who feels this way. Dillon! You asked her out, you have to know what I mean." Dillon refused to respond, ignoring the Irish man completely instead turning his attention to Ritchie.

"Who's she seeing then?"

* * *

Draco was fuming as he waited for her on the pitch. It was Thursday and she was already five minutes late. Well, five minutes late by her standards. He stood in the middle of the field waiting, his grey eyes staring down towards the far end of the pitch where he watched as she spoke rather animatedly to someone. All Draco could see however, was that it appeared to be a tall bloke, 6'3" maybe, with broad shoulders and head of hair. His eyes narrowed as the man leaned into the touch of her hand on his arm before bending down to wrap her into a large embrace. She stood, staring after the retreated figure almost in a daze. Draco tried to control his temper.

"OI! Are you going to get your arse over here or stand around all day?" Shit. So much for keeping his temper. He watched as her expression quickly changed from warm to icy cold as she marched her way towards him. She said nothing as she stepped up to him, instead only glaring daggers in his direction. She waiting, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground, arms crossed over her chest.

"Well? I'm here aren't I?" Draco stared at her in disbelief. Had he not just a moment ago been waiting on her and now she's decided it's HIM holding up the show. He clenched his jaw, begging his mind not to make the situation worse. She was staring at him, waiting for him to give her some form of instruction. When none came, she threw her arms up in the air in frustration. "What's your problem today Malfoy? You've got more mood swings then the weather in Oregon…"

He tried counting, deep breaths, even briefly closing his eyes, but the witch in front of him just continued to grate on his nerves. "What's wrong with me!? What's wrong with you? You show up late then get all huffy like I'm the one making you wait. I know you think you're so important, but the world doesn't bow down to you Granger."

"I think the world bows to ME? You're joking, right? That's really rich coming from you Malfoy. Since the day I met you, you've thought you were better than everyone and everything, always looking down on people. Well, not anymore Malfoy. I won't put up with this any longer. Either get down off your high horse or get out of my stadium. I've had it." Her face was beat red, hair having come unclipped during her rant.

"You can't replace me." His laugh was deep but cold. "You'd be bored without me Granger. Face it, we both know it's true. You like having me around. Lynch is just a distraction. He won't last."

"Aiden is a charming gentleman, something you apparently know nothing about." He laughed again and she found herself growing more frustrated with every word that left his pale lips.

"He's a goddamn Quidditch reporter Granger! It's his job to be charming!" Draco resisted the urge to yank out his hair.

"If I didn't know any better Malfoy, I'd say you were jealous of Aiden." For the first time since she'd approached him, he saw something other than a scowl on her face. It'd been replaced by a wicked smirk. It made his stomach drop as if he'd just taken a plunge off the deep end. Hoping she hadn't noticed the widening of his eyes or the loud sound of his heart beating faster in his chest, he scoffed.

"I've never been jealous of anyone in my life Granger, let alone some retired seeker who didn't even make enough while playing to retire properly."

"Aiden is just a fan of the game Malfoy. He doesn't have to be a sideline reporter." Her response was quick and snappy.

"Oh because I'm sure you've learned so much about him in the whole day and a half you've known him," Draco rolled his eyes. "Pull your head out of your arse Granger. He's using you."

"Please Malfoy, don't pretend you know me." She'd had enough. Hermione turned away, set on walking out on their lessons. She would go to Michael's office and demand he be traded. She did not have to accept this type of behavior from him. Why she thought this would ever work in the first place was beyond her. It was apparent they were just not meant to coexist.

"Where do you think you're going?" He followed her, reaching out and grabbing her upper arm, attempting to stop her.

"Get off me Malfoy. I'm done. I want nothing to do with you." Hermione tried to remove his arm from her shoulder, but his grip was strong. She was sure she'd have five small bruises there in the morning.

"You're not going anywhere Granger. We have a lesson." She turned, facing him. Her small 5'5" frame coming up very short to his 6'1" stance. But her eyes were fierce. It'd been years since he'd seen her this riled up.

"We have nothing Malfoy. You are nothing and you mean nothing to me." Their bodies were so close, she could feel the heat radiating off of him. Her breath visible with every word in the chilly November air.

He just stared down at her, hand still wrapped around her arm. The rage that flickered in her eyes, the way her hair had completely lost control. He lost control. In one quick moment, his hand left her arm, only to find its way to the back of her neck, pulling her face towards his. She let out a gasp of surprise right before his lips came crashing down on hers.


	24. Falcons VS Kestrels

"Jeeze Hermione. How high up is your box?" Hermione gave a roll of her eyes as they continued their trek to the owner's box. After a string of away game wins, the Falcons were once again at home and after much pleading from Ron and a little from Harry, the trio was on their way to get their seats for the Falcons verses the Kestrels.

The game however, was the last thing currently on her mind. In fact, she'd been so out of it since Thursday night, Nigel and Michael sent her home early yesterday and requested she skip interviews today. She had to admit, that she wasn't too upset about being benched for interviews. With how distracted she'd been, the details of her kiss with Draco were bound to slip out of her mouth at any moment. A small sigh escaped her lips as she once again had a flash back to the moment his lips touched hers.

_His fingers intertwined deep in her curly locks, his lips soft but the kiss was anything but. It was hard, fast, and desperate. Her gasp of surprise had given him perfect access to explore her mouth with his. Her first instinct was to pull away, but with one hand in her hair and his other snaked around her waist, she found no way out. Eyes wide, her hands were shaking in panic. This was not supposed to happen! This is her career he was playing with._

_'But he tastes so sweet and this feels so good!' Feeling her eyes fluttering close, Hermione's hands found their way around his neck and she just relaxed into his embrace. When they both finally decided air was a necessity, they pulled apart slightly, Draco resting his forehead on hers. Her breaths were heavy and her mind was racing. Draco smiled down at her, letting out a small laugh and she did the only thing she could think of at the time._

_She ran._

Hermione hadn't spoken to him since. She'd received five owls Thursday night and Nigel had informed her Friday before she left, Draco had been camped outside her office door between practice sessions, refusing to leave. Thankfully, with the addition of Ron and Harry and the fact that she was not needed anywhere near the field, she was hoping to avoid him again today.

"Finally!" Hermione turned to give a stern look at Ron who in turn gave her a 'what?' look. Pushing the door open, Hermione heard the boys' excitement as they followed her in.

"Wicked!"

"Hermione, this is brilliant!" Harry had accompanied Hermione to a game once before, but as that game had been away, their box had not been quite as lavish. Hermione quickly greeted a gentlemen the boys knew as the team owner. They both managed to stay quiet, one of them doing a better job than the other.

"Harry. Harry! They have a snack bar in the box!" Harry fought hard to keep his eyes from rolling at Ron's behavior. This box was defiantly nothing like the box they were in for Ginny's games. He ran his hand over the grey fabric covered seats, each with the Falcons logo stitched in. Harry glanced over to Hermione, smiling to himself at the smile plastered on her face as she laughed at want he assumed was a joke. When she took this job, he'd been worried for her. She was never a fan of Quidditch but she didn't seem in love with her job at the Ministry either. Although she worked long hours, those hours no longer showed on her delicate face. Her puffy, red eyes, tangled mess of hair and over sized clothes were long gone. Had he not watched her grow and change in the last few months, Harry would have assumed someone had taken over her body. Snapping from his thoughts, Harry returned his attention to Ron.

"Ron! Stop that! I'm sure he'll be here for the entire game."

"Buftitsallsogooofd!" His mouth and arms were both full of treats and snacks. The expression on his face lead Harry to believe that Christmas had come early for his red headed best mate. With a sigh and a shake of his head, Harry ushered Ron to an empty seat and ordered him to stay there, hoping to keep him from embarrassing Hermione.

"Welcome to Falcon Stadium!" There was a loud roar from the crowd as the announcer welcomed the team to the field, introducing each starter. Hermione clapped and cheered for each name, omnioculars following each player as they did a lap over the crowd.

"Starting Seeker, standing tall at 6'1" with his Nimbus DL7, Draco Malfoy!" Her cheeks turned pink as she watched Draco seek her out in the stands, slowing slightly in front of their box before heading back to the pitch.

"What's that prats problem?" Hermione chose to ignore Ron's comment and instead waited for the starting whistle. The bludgers flew up quickly, followed closely by the snitch. The quaffle was tossed and the game had begun.

Hermione had to admit, as frustrating as Ron could be sometimes, watching Quidditch with him was a highlight. He followed every movement closely, refusing to use the omnioculars as they ruined the game in his opinion. He said many facts and tidbits of information before the announcer could manage to get them out. His play by play was accurate; he needed no listed roster in front of him to know which player was which. The few foul calls that were made, he spotted easily. After some time, a silencing charm was placed on the loud speaker in the box, those in it preferring to listen to Ron's commentary.

"Falcons score again! What an assist by Coote! The bludger was aimed perfectly to open the goal for Craggy. 160-140 Falcons!" Hermione clapped and cheered, happy to see an air high five exchange between the two players below. Her omnioculars searched to field, looking for any signs of the snitch. A flash of gold catch her eye and was quickly darting away from a blur of grey and white closely behind it, followed by green and yellow. The snitch came to a halt in the middle of the field and both seekers lost it for a moment. Hermione found herself bouncing up and down in her chair as she found the snitch once again, sneaking its way towards her. She heard Ron call out another goal but this time for the Kestrels.

"160-150. Still Falcons." If Draco didn't hurry, they would lose their first game since the season opener. Her attention turned to Draco, she watched as he circled the pitch, looking for a speck of gold. Her eyes roamed the field; she had once again lost sight of the snitch. Turning her omnioculars back to Draco, she was more than confused when she saw him flying right towards her. His broom came to a halt in front of her and she jumped out of her seat, panicked expression on her face.

"Malfoy! What the hell are you doing? Get back out there!" He gave a laugh at her high voice and rushed tone.

"I thought it was obvious Granger. I'm looking for the snitch."

"Then go look for the bloody snitch then! Now is not the time to converse!" Hermione darted her eyes back out towards the field. Thankfully the Kestrels seeker still hadn't caught sight of the snitch either.

"I believe this is the perfect time to converse. I have a proposition for you." Her eyes widened as she looked to see if he was joking.

"Malfoy, the game!"

"The game will be finished when you answer my question Granger." She let out a frustrated sigh before a voice behind her caught her attention.

"Well, get on with it boy!" Draco gave a stern nod to a voice Hermione recognized as the owners.

"Dinner. With me. Monday night after the Portree game." Her mouth went dry and she suddenly found it very difficult to swallow. The color had drained from her face and had apparently taken place in Ron's.

"I'll kill you Malfoy. You stay the bloody hell away from Hermione!" She heard Harry trying to shush him, although the grip on Harry had on her arm let her know he was not too happy about this either. She could hear the shouts behind her, begging her to say yes so the game could be finished. The breeze must have picked up because she could feel her hair flying in the wind. She batted it down, trying to keep some sense on control.

"Fine." He reached forward towards her neck and for a moment she was worried he'd kiss her again but this time in a full stadium. Her eyes clenched tightly closed as she waited for his lips to meet hers. But that moment never came. She heard the crowd roar to life and Ron's disbelief next to her.

"Draco Malfoy has caught the golden snitch!" Opening her eyes quickly, Hermione's jaw dropped at Draco's smug look as her hair flopped back down. "The bloody thing was caught in her hair. Unbelievable!"


	25. Falcons VS Portree

"Hermione, I know why you said yes, but you need to be very careful. These are rough waters." The newspaper plopped on her desk with a thud. Looking back at her was a picture from Saturdays game front on center on Sundays edition of The Prophet. Her elbows were setting on her desk, supporting her chin. The picture replayed like a bad dream over and over in front of her.

 **'Draco Malfoy Catches More Than Just the Snitch'**  

The headline read like a cheesy romance novel. With a grumble of frustration, Hermione tried not to read the ridiculous words of Rita Skeeter and looked up at Michael.

"I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't risk the game. Stupid prat is out to make a fool of me." Throwing his arms up in the air, Michael took a seat in the empty chair in front of her desk.

"I'm not saying you did anything wrong. Hell, Timmions was right there. They can't blame you for wanting your team to win. I know Timmions wasn't mad. But, that was just one game Hermione. Draco has got to get his behavior under control." Looking down at the picture once more, a frown graced her face. Did she really want Draco to control his behavior around her?

* * *

Draco approached her with a smug look on his face, golden snitch still in hand. Pursing her lips, she had secretly hoped Portree would win just so Draco would be in a foul mood and maybe change his mind about their dinner date. The flash of the cameras as he approached her though, only seemed to fuel his attitude.

"Granger." Hermione wanted to slap the smirk of his arrogant face. She found a frown gracing her face as a camera flashed to her left. This was sure to be a long night.

"Let's go." She turned away from him, heading down the tunnel towards the exit.

"Granger. GRANGER," he called to her retreating back. "I need to change first."

He snarled in annoyance when her hand went up in the air and dismissed his comment. Shoving the snitch he was still grasping and his broom into the arms of Kenneth, stripping his pads as he ran after her. Reporters yelled questions at his retreating figure, which he ignored, still yelling after Hermione to wait.

"For gods sake woman, what is your problem?" He was out of breath when he finally caught up to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. Hermione gave a hard jerk, removing her shoulder from his grip. Her eyes were cold and her expression just as cold.

"What's my problem? What's MY problem Malfoy? I would think that would be very obvious to you." He stared back at her with a blank expression, awaiting more of an explanation. She threw her hands up in the air in annoyance. Was he honestly this thick? "You Malfoy. You are the problem! I didn't bring you to this team to have you make a fool of me. I brought you here to win. I don't know what kind of game you are playing at, but I'm not interested in playing with you. I would appreciate if you would stop trying to spend unnecessary time with me. Thursday lessons are bad enough."

He felt as if she'd knocked the wind out of him. Sure, maybe he had some alternative motives in the beginning, getting her job being one of them. But something had changed between them, surely she felt it too. The lingering glances, the extra attention. How could she not feel it? He'd tried to push the feelings down, telling himself time and time again she wasn't good enough for him, but something about her was drawing him in. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but the feelings were becoming real and the kiss they'd shared on the pitch last week? It had made him week in the knees. Her hair had felt like silk in his hands. For a moment, it was bliss. Until she ran.

His expression turned cold at the thought of the warmth of her body leaving his hands so suddenly last Thursday. For a moment, he saw the fear in her eyes as hers searched his face. His body went ridged and he took a step away from her.

"Well. I hadn't realized that was how you felt Granger. Sorry to be an inconvenience to you." His words came out with venom she hadn't heard in years. She was taken aback at his tone. When he turned and began walking away from her, her bottom jaw slacked open slightly; she could see the flash of the cameras in the distance.

"Where do you think you're going Malfoy? You wanted a bloody date, you've got one. Now get your arse over here and let's go." Had she been watching this argument from afar, she surely would have scolded herself for stomping her foot on the ground. The sound of her heel hitting the cement echoed through the hall.

He stopped in his tracks, glancing at her over his shoulder, scowl still present on his face. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her hip was cocked to the side. Oh how he loathed this bossy, bitchy woman. He rounded on her quickly, watching as she backed up rapidly before running into the wall behind her. She lost her balance slightly and flinched as he placed each hand on either side of her head against the cold wall.

"No one," his voice was barely above a whisper and Hermione felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as his breath tickled her ear. "Tells me what to do Granger. Especially not the likes of you."

Her expression quickly changed from one of fear to one of anger. Hermione could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. Her eyes darted up to his and he swore he could feel the daggers she was glaring at him. His sneer stayed in place as his eyes darted from her eyes, searching her face before landing her lips and then coming back up to her eyes. She could feel her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest. Hermione tucked her bottom lip in, chewing on it gently.

Draco couldn't take it any longer. His body crashed into hers, molding against it as her back straightened against the frigid wall behind her. His mouth crushing hers as he took her bottom lip between his. A content sigh escaped her lips as her fingers buried themselves deep in his sweat covered hair. She could feel him growing under the pants of his uniform and she felt herself go damp in her skirt.

When he pulled away, it was as if all the air had been sucked from her lungs. Her knees went weak and her balance faltered. Draco's hands quickly went from the wall to scope her up, bridal style. His eyes bore into hers, a silent plead for more. Giving a sure nod of her head, Draco headed towards the door, unaware of a set of eyes following their every move.


	26. Won't Tell

Hermione had never felt so rested. Her bed was warm, which she had no complaints about as the air outside of her sheets was much colder than normal. Snuggling herself down farther into the silk sheets, she suddenly became aware that her nightclothes had not been put on before bed. _'I must have been rather tired last night.'_ She mused to herself before her eyes popped open in realization.

She didn't own silk sheets.

Panic set in, suddenly very aware of a warm body pressed up against her back. She tried to move quickly from the stranger, however an arm snaked its way around her waist. Her honey eyes widened as realization set in. Warm bodies, tongues exploring each others mouths, moans and sweat.

"Oh god." The body behind her stirred once more, grumbling in annoyance at the sound of her voice.

"Go back to bed Granger. It's too bloody early for round three." Hearing his voice made the situation all too real. Yanking the sheet and herself out of his grasp, Hermione clumsily stumbled to her feet.

"Oh god." She repeated, her heart beat quickened as she searched the unfamiliar room for her discarded clothes. Another grumble in annoyance rang out as she spotted her bra quickly latching the clasp as she sought out her missing panties.

“This can’t be happening. This cannot be happening right now.” After finally finding her missing garments and redressing, her hands found their way deep into her hair. What had she been thinking last night? Surely some form of alcohol had to be in effect here but a frown graced her face when she felt no pounding in her head.

“You just wanted it Granger. Heat of the moment you know.” He seemingly read her thoughts. She found herself falling into a lavish chair in the corner of the room, tearing her hands from her hair and placing her face in them instead.

“What have we done? Fuck!” At her outburst, Draco let out a heavy sigh and dragged his body from the cool bottom sheet still left on the bed, grabbing his discarded boxers on the way. Stopping in front of her saddened position, Draco dropped to his knees in front of her, forcing her to look at him.

“You listen here Granger. Last night was two adults who, might I add, have been fighting off sexual tension for over a month now, having a good time together.” Her eyes had become weeping and for a moment, Draco wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms and let her cry. How had they gotten here? When had their relationship shifted so far?

“Now, we can pretend this never happened and carry on with our lives knowing together we have mind blowing sex and can’t scratch the itch when needed,” to this she gave a cold laugh and a slight roll of her eyes. “Or. Or we can see where this goes. No one saw our kiss last night, they all assumed we were going to dinner. No one has to know what we have going on behind the scenes. It could be our secret.”

Draco’s hand found its way to the bottom of her chin, lifting her face ever so slightly with his finger. He could see the gears in her brain turn as she weighed the two proposals. After the romp they had had in the sack last night, Draco was very biased in his opinion of which option he hoped Hermione would select. Draco’s legs had begun to fall asleep before she finally spoke.

“No one would know?” A smile crept onto his lips.

“I wouldn’t tell a soul.”

* * *

 

“’Mione I can’t help but notice how good of a mood you’ve been in this week. Nigel told Harry you’ve even been leaving the office at a descent time.”

“That little spy. I think I might have to fire him.” Hermione brought a bowl of salad to the table and set it down with a little more force then necessary. Her red headed friend gently placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Oh Hermione, he just worries about you is all and of course Harry’s worry just amplifies Nigel’s. Besides, you know he is a great assistant.” Ginny finished plating the main course, her first attempted at cooking a steak kidney pie without magic, with a smile beaming across her face. Hermione had to admit, although it wasn’t the prettiest pie she’d ever seen, the smell was amazing.

“It looks delicious Gin.”

“Ah, so glad

the table.

“I didn’t have a loss of appetite before Harry, as I tried to explain to you. I was just busy was all.”

“According to

to see you’ve gotten your appetite back.” Harry plopped a kiss on Ginny’s cheek and placed a bottle of Merlot on Nigel, you’ve been very busy in the evenings.” Her face flushed red as Ron took a seat at the table.

“What are you on about Ron?” The sound of the cork popped as Ginny awaited an answer, slapping Ron’s hand away from the plate. “Wait until everyone is seated.”

He gave a mumble under his breath. “Harry was saying Nigel told him ‘Mione must be seeing someone. She never plans any meeting after five and is out the door by six. I guess at first the poor bloke thought something was wrong with her.”

Hermione was sure her face could not get anymore red. She’d only been seeing Draco secretly for about a week. They’d managed to keep their hands to themselves all week at the pitch and didn’t even make eye contact during the Wigtown Wandlerers game on Sunday. They did celebrate the win of course, just not in the prying eyes of the public.

“Hermione?” Ginny questioned, finally taking a seat to Ron’s joy.

“I honestly don’t know what you mean. I’ve just done as you’ve all requested multiple times and decided not to work so hard. That’s all.” Dishing herself up, she hurried to put food in her mouth as to avoid any further questioning.

“You know If you’re seeing someone Hermione, you could tell us. We won’t judge you.” Harry’s kind green eyes stared back at her as she took a gulp of her wine. _‘If only you knew.’_


	27. Pregame Interview

“Draco! What are you doing? Someone is going to see us.” Hermione hissed at him as she tried to pull back into the shadows.

“I just wanted a good luck kiss was all.” At this her eyes rolled.

“We both know you don’t think the Cannons are a threat, but I warned you. They are having a much better season then they’ve had in years. Ron won’t shut up about them.”

“Please. They don’t stand a chance against this.” She placed her hands on his chest to push him away, but he instead placed his hands on her shoulder blades and pulled her in to his chest.

“Honestly Malfoy. Let me go.”

“Oh back to surnames are we Granger? You were singing a different tune last night.” He gave her a smirk before burying his face into the crease of her neck, his lips tickling her exposed skin. She felt the goosebumps rise as well as the small hairs on her neck. She had to keep herself from releasing the moan in the back of her throat.

“Draco.” Her voice had a whine to it as if her words said stop but her body wanted more. He settled on a few more nibbles before he pulled away, placing a rough, quick kiss on her lips.

“That’s what I thought.” Smirk still in place, Draco grabbed his discarded broom leaning against the wall next to them and headed for the visitors’ locker room. Hermione placed her back on the stone wall for just a moment. Her lips were tinged pink from his last departing kiss and she was sure she had the makings of a mark on her neck. Composing herself quickly, Hermione pushed off of the wall in search of the loo to fix her disheveled appearance.

“Miss Granger! There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Nigel, clipboard in tow came running towards her. Her eyes widened at the thought of the possible love marks on her neck and her slender hand quickly found its way to the clip in her hair. She released it, letting her hair fall down. Fussing with it for a few moments, trying to place the tangled locks anywhere she thought the evidence would be, Hermione turned around to face Nigel just as he reached her, completely out of breath.

“They,” he panted, wiping his free hand across his forehead. “Need you down on the pitch. They want to do pregame interviews about the winning streak.” She opened her mouth to protest but didn’t have a chance. “Michael wanted you. He gave the go ahead. They are all waiting. We need to go.”

Hermione bit her lip before reluctantly nodding her head. Nigel turned to lead her back towards the reporters waiting, his pace quick. Apparently he had been in search of her for a while. Her heels clicked against the cement floor as her short legs were struggling to meet Nigel’s pace. By the time they reached the edge of the field, Hermione had to stop for a moment and catch her breath.

“Miss Granger! Miss Granger!” She gave a fake smile and made her way towards a waiting Michael and Coach O’Kelly.

“Miss Granger, what’s changed this season? The Falcons are currently in second place, behind the Harpies. Last year, they had to fight to stay out of last.” A few reporters nodded their heads, quick quills flying across parchment.

“Well, I’d like to think we are just functioning better as a team. Coach O’Kelly has done an excellent job with our starting seven and our reserve players are seeing more field time at home allowing them to be prepared for any outcome the game may throw at them.” There was a mummer among the crowd as she finished before a new hand shot up.

“And what of bringing in Draco Malfoy? Was it the right decision for the team?”

“Draco Malfoy has proven his value as a seeker time and time again for this team. He’s become a team player and takes great pride in the game he plays. We are happy to have him.”

“Is the team happy to have him or are you Miss Granger?”

“I’m sorry?” Hermione’s face quickly changed from confident to unsure as she gave a side glance at Michael. He gave a motion to her to allow the question to be rephrased before he would pull her from the reporters.

“It’s the presses understanding that Draco Malfoy has been giving you flying lessons and after the Kestrels game, news of your impending dinner date was all over the papers. Surely you saw that.” Her face turned a shade of red and she shook her head no, trying to play off the terrible article she declined to read. “Miss Granger, you’re dinner date was not photographed and it’s a fact that the press had all major restaurants staked out. Where did Mr. Malfoy take you for dinner?” Her throat was closing, her vision going blurry and the reporters began to spin before her eyes.

“I….umm we….” Michael stepped in, grabbing her firmly by the shoulders.

“Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy had a private dinner prepared for them at the field after the fans and media had been removed. As crazy as it sounds, neither of them enjoy being photographed while eating. What a crazy concept.” Hermione wanted to throw her arms around Michael at that moment. She had never been so thankful of someone’s ability to cover her arse. “That will be all the questions we have time for today. Miss Granger needs to get up to her box to watch the game. Go Falcons!”

As soon as they were out of the presses sight, Hermione collapsed into a heap on the ground. Her breathing was ragged and her focus still hadn’t returned. Michael bent down next to her, trying to pull some of her hair away from her face.

“Nigel. Get her some water. Quickly.” Nigel took off once again, his long legs carrying him out of sight.

“Hermione. What the hell is going on?” Hermione remained silent, her eyes glued to the floor beneath her. Michael reached up towards her face again, pushing her hair away and also catching sight of a few small marks littering her now exposed neck.

“Oh Hermione, what have you done?” A small sob escaped her lips and she buried her head in Michael’s shoulder.

He received a few odd looks as a couple of stadium workers passed by. “Hermione, we can’t stay here. We need to move. Can you walk?” The only response he received was another sob. Getting to his feet, he scooped her up in his arms just as Nigel reappeared with a bottle of water.

“Let’s get her into the locker room. At least the only prying eyes there, we can control.”


	28. Cannons VS Falcons

“I let Mr. Timmons know she fell ill. He sent his regards.” Nigel gave the damp wash cloth to Michael, who placed it on Hermione’s forehead. Had she not made her confession of feelings for Draco known to him only a few weeks before, it would have been easy for Michael to believe that Hermione had suddenly grown ill especially after the interrogation she just received from the reporters.

“Where the hell is she?” Michael’s attention quickly went from Hermione to the players reentering the locker room. Never before had he seen Draco Malfoy so red in the face. His eyes quickly scanned the rest of the teams faces, looks of disappointment splashed across each one.

“What happened?” Michael’s voice was timid, scared to hear the answer.

“Bloody Malfoy was too distracted looking for Granger up in the box, that the new seeker they brought on caught the bloody snitch within five minutes. We’d only managed to score ten points. We lost to the Cannons. We’ll be a laughing stock of the league.” Kenneth dropped down on the bench sinking his face into his hands.

“Cheer up mate. This is all Malfoy’s fault. No one will give two shits about the rest of us. He’s the fuck up.” Rhys’ cheery tone did nothing to help the morale of the team.

“Where the fuck is Granger?” There was a collective groan from the team as Draco once again requested information. Michael, noticing his tone, threw an arm up in the air to catch his attention. This action however, did not go unnoticed by the rest of the guys.

“Michael, what’s going on?”

“Why is she so pale?”

“Is she alright?”

The men huddled up around Michael and Hermione’s sickly looking form. Rhys received a hard elbow from Draco as he made his way to Hermione, dropping down beside her.

“Don’t worry gentlemen. Miss Granger just appears to have caught a cold. Tis the season you know. How about you all back up and give her some space. We don’t need any of you getting sick before the holidays now do we?” There was a mummer amongst the men as most turned away to strip themselves of their quidditch gear and the stench of failure. When they were out of ear shot, Michael leaned towards Draco.

“She told me.” Draco’s face went noticeably pale. “A few weeks ago, she had feelings for you. I’m going to assume those marks,” he pointed to the small, purpling spots on her collar bone. “Are a gift from you. Do not ruin her.”

Although pale, Draco’s facial expression had not changed. He reached, brushing Hermione’s bangs from her sticky forehead. Michael placed his hand on Draco’s forearm, his grip tight, begging Draco to stop.

“This is not the place.” His voice was low and the sound came out like a hiss. “She’s not sick. The media attacked her with questions about you. She panicked. If you have feelings for her, you won’t ruin her career.” Releasing his grip, Michael stood, scooping Hermione up into his arms once more. This was no longer a safe place to keep her, what with the constant, curious glances of the team. Giving a nod, Michael disappeared with Hermione’s form leaving Draco on his knees by the bench her limp body just vacated. Closing his eyes, he exhaled deeply before dropping his head with a thud on the wooden plank.

* * *

The holiday season brought a three week break for the Falcons. It seemed Quidditch did wait for something. Games wouldn't resume until after the New Year. Apparently practice was the same way. Hermione had found it odd when the pitch was empty the first few days following the game.

"Nigel!" There was a rustle of paper and Hermione heard him a scramble to his feet.

"Yes Miss Granger?" His hair was ruffled and he appeared to have been in deep in thought before she interrupted him.

"Why isn't the team practicing?" Nigel cocked his head slightly to the side as if trying to determine if she was joking with him or not. When all he received was an impatient look, he quickly spoke up.

"It’s winter holidays. No teams practice during this time. It's an unwritten rule amongst them." Her lips pursed in annoyance and her eye fluttered closed with a roll.

“Fine. I want them in training then. Laps, gym days, the works. No one on a broom.” Nigel looked at her with uncertainty. He began to speak up but one look from her dark eyes silenced him immediately. He scurried quickly from her office, off to contact Coach O’Kelly with her instructions. 

Letting out a long breath, Hermione slammed her pen on her desk in frustration. She had put herself out there, risked her job and reputation for Draco, but she hadn’t heard a word from him since Michael removed her from the locker room a week ago. He hadn’t come to see her, hadn’t sent one owl and to be honest, she was more than a little upset.

* * *

“What are we doing here coach? It’s holiday break for fucks sake.”

“Language Hawksworth.” Avery let out a groan at O’Kelly’s words.

“I’ve got a little girl at home. Promised her I’d be with her all break. What are we doing Coach? We never meet over holidays?” O’Kelly approached Avery, grasping him on the shoulder.

“We are doing whatever the higher ups request Avery. Unfortunately, that is how the world works. No need for your brooms though gentlemen. I’ve been informed you won’t be here all day either. Just until noonish if you are all on time.” Like clockwork, Draco walked in to catch the end of O’Kelly’s words. “Ah, Mr. Malfoy, so kind of you to grace us with your presence this morning. Now, like I was saying, if you are all on time, I can let you go on time. If you continue to be late, I will hold you all for the tardiness of one. Is that understood?”

“Yes Coach.”

“Excellent. Hit the field. I want ten laps before we hit the stairs.” Plopping his whistle into his mouth, O’Kelly gave a hard blow and a high pitched sound filled the locker room. “Let’s go! For Mr. Malfoy’s tardiness, I want half your laps ran backwards with high knees.”

A collective groan filled the room as the men filed out one by one.

“Way to go Malfoy.” Rhys leaned in to hit Draco hard in the shoulder as her jogged by. Draco angrily rubbed the spot.

“Just because your fucking the GM doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want Malfoy. Just remember that.” Draco stared open mouthed at the retreating figure of Dillon.

“Fuck.”


	29. Falcons VS Bangers: Part 1

"Gin, I just don't know what I should do." Dirty snow crunched under their feet as they walked along the busy streets of muggle London. With gloved hands and warm hats, the two girls were trying to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping.

"How about this one?" Hermione gave a nod and the two girls headed into a shop, stepping out of the chilly, winter air. The bell tinged and the shop keeper greeted them kindly.

"Gin, I'm serious though." Hermione let out a frustrated sigh as Ginny once again refused to acknowledge her comment.

"I don't know what to tell you, Hermione. Maybe he lost interest." At this Hermione's face fell. "Not that someone would lose interest in a catch like you." Hermione huffed in response, turning away from the girl to inspect a trinket on the shelf. "Oh come on, Hermione. It's just kind of weird talking about this with you. You never talk about this stuff."

"But you had no problem talking about it before." She picked the item up, showing it to Ginny who shook her head no.

"That was different. That was when we were joking. This is all too real now. You slept with Malfoy! Multiple times. You're his boss Hermione. This has sexual harassment written all over it." Hermione lunged towards the red headed girl, clasping her hand over her mouth.

"Will you keep it down? Gods, Ginny." Ginny rolled her eyes and pulled Hermione's hand from her lips.

"Calm down, Hermione. Who is going to overhear us here? We're in the middle of muggle London for Pete's sake." The large swooping gesture Ginny made with her arms bumped into a figurine on the shelf. It wobbled slightly, but remained upright. Letting out a sigh of relief, Ginny carefully dropped her arms back down to her side. "Maybe we should get out of here. I didn't realize how many things I could break in here." Hermione shook her head and rolled her eyes but motioned for Ginny to lead the way. She cast her eyes around the shop once more on the way out, just to make sure they had not been overheard.

* * *

The winter holidays flew by and before she knew it, Hermione was getting up Monday morning to head in for the first home game of the New Year. Hermione was slightly worried about the team not playing well, especially after that embarrassing loss to the Cannons right before holidays. Today marked the 22nd day since she had spoken to Draco. She'd seen him around the pitch, but he would hide his face or keep his eyes trained to the ground when he saw her approaching.

It hurt.

But she had decided the night before that she was done. Done feeling sorry for herself and done wondering what she could have done wrong. She was done crying into her pillow or worrying about the media finding out. If Draco hadn't leaking the information yet, she highly doubted he would. Granted she was taking a big leap in her logic, she honestly hoped he was a decent human being inside.

The walk to her office was pleasant. She passed a few stadium workers and politely bid them good morning. She noticed however, they did not bid her the same. Her pace quickened, feeling more eyes following her. Gripping her bag tighter, Hermione allowed her feet to carry her at a quicker pace, almost running for the safety she hoped her office would bring. Nigel was not at her desk. She pushed her door open, slamming it shut behind her. Dumping her bag on the floor, she brought her hands up to her hair, racking her curly locks out in nervousness.

"Relax, Hermione. You're being ridiculous. No one was staring at you. You have nothing to worry about." She took a few more deep breaths, shaking out her arms, before she felt calm enough to sit down at her desk. She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of beak tapping against the glass. Placing her hands on her desk top, she rose. Once the window opened, not one, not two, but four owls came flying through her window. Cocking her head to the side, she approached the flock.

Three of the owls she recognized as belonging to her three best friends. The fourth was a carrier for the Daily Prophet. Concerned for her friends, Hermione quickly untied the note from Ginny's owl.

_'Oh, Hermione! I'm so sorry! I'll kill the bastard. Just you wait until I get my hands on him!'_

Confusion flashed across her face. She quickly reached for the note from Ron, unfolding the parchment in a hurry.

_'DRACO FUCKING MALFOY?! HERMIONE ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? WHAT WERE YOU EVEN THINKING GETTING INVOLVED WITH HIM? IF I EVER SEE THAT ARROGANT SON OF A BITCH ANYWHERE, I'LL KILL HIM.'_

Her heart stopped. Ginny never would have never told Ron about her short fling with Draco. Ginny had sworn she hadn't even told Harry. She could feel the tears spilling down her face as she untied the note from Harry.

_''Mione, I'm so sorry. I just saw the Prophet. Don't you worry. I floo'd Nigel right away. I've already got you publicist trying to do damage control. DO NOT go to the game today Hermione. Stay home.'_

Her head was spinning and the tears in her eyes were starting to cloud her vision. She reached out for the last owl, hands shaking as she unrolled the paper. Her breath caught in her throat as the large, oversized black font glared back at her from above a picture that was worth a thousand words.

'GENERAL MANAGER HERMIONE GRANGER CAUGHT IN THE ACT WITH STAR SEEKER DRACO MALFOY'

Her tears turned to sobs as she stared at a picture of the two of them before the Cannons game, tucked away in the shadows. The image repeated itself over and over. She stared in horror as Draco bit down on her color bone playfully before bring his lips back up to hers. She heard a knock at her door and a voice saying her name.

She was going to be sick.


	30. Falcons VS Bangers: Part 2

Grabbing his watch from the bedside table, Draco let out a deep sigh before bringing the back of his hand to rest on his forehead, watch still clutched in fingers. Today would be the first time he might really have to speak with her since the disaster at the Cannons game. Michael's word rang in his head once again, _'Do not ruin her._ ' Those words had been haunting him since. He'd wanted to go to her, walked the long walk to her office what felt like a hundred times but Michael's words replayed in his head every time. Growling in frustration, he threw his watch at the wall but felt no joy as it broke apart into tiny pieces.

How had this happened? When did his original plan get pushed to the rear? What about taking Granger's job? What about winning the World Cup? He had to be honest, the Cannons game was one of the lowest moments he'd had since the war and why? Why had he been so damned determined to see her face in the crowd?

"Damn Granger." Her name sounded like venom spewing from his mouth. "Fucking Granger and her plans and her bloody team and her bloody fucking offer. Bloody flying lessons. Bloody pencil skirts. Bloody hair. So soft, so smooth. Bloody smile. Who has that much time to smile anyway?" He buried his fingers deep in his blonde locks.

What was happening to him? When had he become this person? Draco Malfoy did not pine for women. Women flocked to Draco Malfoy. But here he sat, alone in his room, the morning before a game, thinking about bloody Hermione Granger. He bolted straight up in bed, slowly removing his fingers from his hair.

"Fuck," Draco shook his head a bit, as if to sort it all out in there. "FUCK. I love her." He fell back hard, in total disbelieve. He was in love with Hermione Granger. Head over heels. Every annoying habit, every pain in the arse comment that spilled from her perfectly pouty lips.

"I've got to tell her, before it's too late." Throwing the comforter off his legs, he threw himself from the bed, rushing to the closet, quickly pulling on whatever item was in his reach.

"Master Draco, Master Draco. Twinkie has the morning Prophet for you master." The tiny elf appeared in the doorway to his closet. Her eyes were wide in confusion as a shirt went flying over her short head.

"Not now Twinkie. I don't have time. I'm in love." Draco gave her a quick pat on the head before rushing around her and leaving his room in search of the nearest fireplace. He had to get to her. Before the game. He had to tell her before it was too late.

* * *

Spilling out of the long row of fireplaces, Draco cast his eyes around the lobby of the pitch. Many stopped upon seeing him, quickly pulling out cameras to snap pictures. He was used to this of course, but certainly did not have the time today. He pulled the sleeve of his shirt up, letting out a frustrated groan when his watch was not in its normal place.

“Bloody Granger.” He scanned the room quickly, locating a clock tower on the far side. It read quarter past twelve. He had one hour before he needed to be on the pitch ready to take to the air. He took off at a run towards the field. Hopefully she was doing pregame interviews.

When he couldn’t find her curly locks anywhere, he turned around quickly but still catching the eye of a few media outlets. He ignored them as they yelled his name from the field, unable to follow him into the tunnel as security had the area blocked off.

Looking left and right, Draco wondered if Hermione was in the media room or if she had yet to make an appearance from her office. Just as he was about to run towards the left, Nigel’s unruly mop caught his eye.

“Nigel!” The assistant in question turned upon hearing his name and his expression quickly faded from upset to disgusted.

“You have some nerve Malfoy. They ought to suspend you.” Draco’s face scrunched up in confusion.

“Nigel, I have no idea what you’re talking about but I don’t have the time. Where is Granger?” Nigel let out sarcastic laugh.

“Like you don’t know. Just go change Malfoy. Stay away from Miss Granger.” Nigel turned to leave but Draco was beyond frustrated at this point. He reached out, grabbing Nigel by the back of his collar. His grip was strong and thanks to Nigel’s small build, Draco was able to left him from the ground to once again turn him towards him.

“Tell me where she is.” His voice was dangerously low, it came out like a growl. Nigel had every intention of keeping his mouth shut, but at the look in Draco’s eyes, Nigel swallowed hard before bringing his hand up and attempting to pull his collar free from his neck.

“I haven’t seen her all morning. But after that article in the paper, I doubt she’ll be here.” Nigel voice was scratchy and when Draco’s grip slipped at his words, Nigel lost his balance a bit as he came back down to the ground.

“Article? What article?”

* * *

His feet could hardly keep up with the rest of his body. He offered no apologies to the people he left in his wake. If she wasn’t in her office, then he’d miss the game and floo to her home. Heart beating in his chest, his brain repeated the words Nigel told him just moments before.

_‘Everyone knows.’_

That was all it took and he was off. They’d been careful, hadn’t they? Sure, he could have been more discreet but now that it was out in the open, what was the harm? Surely they could be together now.  The public had to understand love, right?

When he finally reached her office, her door was open and he could hear loud sobs coming from within. Swallowing hard and taking a deep breath, Draco stepped into her office, the sight bringing him to his knees in her doorway.


	31. Falcons VS Bangers: Part 3

When Michael arrived at her office, he knocked quietly before listening for movement after a few moments. Just as he was about to turn and leave, a sound hit his ears and stopped him in his tracks. He could hear her heave then the sound of liquid hitting the carpet filled his ears. Opening the door, Michael stepped into Hermione’s office to see her in a heap next to her white rug which was now, unfortunately covered in pink chunks. He bent down next to her, placing a hand on her back as her body made another violent contraction. Looking away, from the smell alone, Michael could tell Hermione had emptied her stomach. With two small children at home, Michael was, regrettably familiar with the smell of stomach acid. He rubbed small circles in her back, hoping to comfort her.

“Water?” Her voice was shaky and cracked a bit. For a moment, Michael worried more would come up, but he stood, heading to a drink cart by her window and pouring her a glass. When he approached her again, Hermione had managed to sit back up, her back resting on the front of her large desk. She gave a small thanks as Michael handed her the glass.

He frowned at the way her body was shaking and his concern grew as he watched her once again empty her stomach. Michael took the glass of water from her, setting it above him on the desk. He reached over, pulling her long hair away from her face, trying not to get anymore vomit in her hair. Michael heard a small thud to his left and to his surprise, Draco Malfoy just dropped to his knees in the doorway. Michael tried to motion for him to leave, but it was too late. Hermione already saw him.

“Granger?” It came out meek and worried. Her head turned fully to the side to look at him. He looked on the verge of tears; His face red, sweat dripping down his forehead. For just a brief moment, she was concerned. But catching sight of the spilled contents of her stomach snapped her back to reality. This was his fault. His doing. He couldn’t help himself, couldn’t stay away from her and now look what had happened.

She pulled her hair from Michael’s grasp and using her desk for support, brought herself to her feet. She teetered once, but Michael steadied her from behind. She stepped towards Draco, paying no mind to the mess on the floor and wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve.

“You! This is all your fault! You’ve created this mess. Hell, you probably told the world about our business. I trusted you! I put aside my better judgement and got involved with you even though I knew it was a mistake, even though I knew deep down you would hurt me! And what do you know, a few screws and you were bored of me. Spent two weeks avoiding me. You didn’t even have the decency to tell me to my face I was just a good fuck to pass the time,” he flinched under her words, but didn’t speak. “And now, I’m ruined! I can’t be taken seriously. They are going to fire me all because of you!” Her whole arm shook as her slender finger pointed to him on the floor. His head was down, eyes never leaving the floor. “What do you have to say for yourself huh, Malfoy?”

For a moment, he said nothing. He didn’t move, didn’t breathe. When he did finally look up, his eyes were watery, beginning to go blood shot. He stood slowly, using the door frame from support and stood tall, head titled down slightly to look a disheveled Hermione in the eyes.

“I love you.” His voice was soft but strong. His expression never changed, still hardened from her outburst. She stepped back, away from him unable to process his statement.

“You what? Please Malfoy, just leave me alone. I don’t want to play your games anymore. I’m done.” She turned away, closing her eyes praying for him to leave. He grabbed her shoulders tightly, twisting her around in his arms. Her eyes still clenched closed, Hermione refused to look at him.

  
“Look at me Hermione. I won’t try to make you understand again,” her eyes tentatively opened and she looked up at him through her lashes. “I want you. I’ve been wanting you! But that jackass over there,” he motioned to Michael who was still by Hermione’s desk. “Told me not to ruin you. That’s why I’ve stayed away from you. I thought it was better this way.”

“What?” Her voice was soft, hardly above a whisper as she looked back towards Michael confused.

“But staying away from you only made matters worse. I promised you I wouldn’t tell a soul about us and that’s one promise I haven’t broken. Please Hermione, please.” She slipped a bit in his arms, her head spinning as he pleaded with her. She shook her head, trying to make heads or tails of his words. Could she really believe him? Had he given her any reason not to trust him before? He watched the dilemma dance across her face and gripped her shoulders tighter.

“I may have agreed to join your team with alternative motives in the beginning, but those are no longer my reasons for staying here. You are Granger and if you need to replace me for us to be together, then so be it.” Her face hardened and her face scrunched up.

“What alternative motives?” Draco’s eyes widened.

“No Hermione, those don’t matter anymore, I only care for you…”

“You’ve got a really shitty way of showing it.” Hermione pulled herself from his arms, stumbling as he let go. “This is all a game to you. You don’t care for me!”

“Hermione, haven’t you heard a word I’ve said?” He reached out for her, but she yanked her arm away, stepping back to put as much space between them as possible.

“I’ve heard you loud and clear Malfoy, at least as far as I’m concerned.” She turned her back to him, causing his jaw to drop slightly in the process. “We’re done here.”

“Hermio-,” he started.

“DONE.” She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to look back at him. Clenching her eyes shut tight again, Hermione waited to hear his footsteps hit the tile in reception area before her knees finally gave out and she fell in a heap on the floor.


	32. After

It was long after the crowd had roared and cleared out of the stadium before Hermione managed to pull herself up off the floor. Michael had left her in the care of Nigel some time ago, but Nigel couldn't stand the sight of her. He coolly sat himself at his desk outside her office, trying not to listen to the sounds of her sobs. After everything they had worked for, she'd gone and gotten involved with a player. Somehow he knew their amazing season would be over shadowed by this scandalous event.

He threw another tabloid magazine into the growing pile currently residing in the rubbish bin. Another cover with Hermione's face gracing the cover. Letting out a heavy sigh, Nigel pushed the remaining rags into the trash and looked at the calendar on his desk. Three red circles stared back at him. They had three more regular season games before the Cup finals began. Looking at the last red circle, Nigel knew the game against the Harpies would be difficult. Compared to the final game of the season, the two leading up to it should be cake, or at least they would have been had everyone kept it in their pants. Nigel let his fists fall heavily to the desk in frustration.

"Nigel?" Her voice was soft and for just a second, he forgot how furious he was with his curly hair boss. He stood, slowly making his way to her doorway. She looked like a pitiful mess, holding onto her desk for support. He stared at her, waiting for her to give him an order. She wobbled a bit and he rushed forwards, catching her arm to steady her.

"Miss Granger, no offense, but you're a wreck. I think it's time you went home." He tightened his grip and forced her to let go of the desk.

"But the game…"

"The game finished hours ago Miss, Granger. The Falcons won." Nigel moved his hand from just her right arm and wrapped his arm under her left armpit to try and help her walk a bit more steadily.

"And Draco?" Her voice was soft and he almost hadn't heard her. Nigel shifted her in his arms causing her to cry out. He turned his head forward, refusing to look at her.

"No one's seen him. Gudgeon played in his place." Hermione nodded her head stiffly.

The walk down to the entrance was long. Neither said a word. Hermione found herself grateful her lose hair was able to hide her face. Never had she imagined Nigel being cross with her, but his behavior and attitude proved otherwise. A driver was waiting for them. He opened the door allowing Nigel to help Hermione into the backseat.

"Nigel," he stopped turning his head back towards her slightly. "I'm sorry I've disappointed you. I promise I'll find a way to keep you here when I'm gone." He curled his lips together, forming a straight line with his mouth and gave her a nod.

"Goodnight, Miss Granger." The door closed with a snap and the driver took his seat. Not bothering with her buckle, Hermione laid across the cool, leather seats.

* * *

"She can't stay locked away forever."

"Maybe she isn't ready to talk yet."

"Can't say I blame her. I could never show my face after that."

"RONALD!" Two voices rang out in annoyance.

"I'm just saying." Hermione let out a heavy sigh. She assumed, of course that they'd come. To be honest, she was surprised it had taken this long. She'd been holed up in her flat since the driver brought her home Monday night. As far as she could tell, it was currently Thursday, maybe morning judging by the sun. A knock at her bedroom door brought her back from her thoughts.

"Hermione?" It was Ginny's soft voice followed by the creek of the door and a splash of red hair. "Can we come in?" She didn't wait for a response before opening the door the fully allowing Hermione to see Harry and Ron also standing on the other side.

"Oh 'Mione." Ginny took in the sight of her best friend and let out a heavy sigh. She was currently tucked into a small ball, laying on her side, staring out the window. Her eyes were blood shot and her nose was very red. Ginny took a seat gingerly on the bed, a creek following her moments. She brought her hand up to Hermione's face and gently began pushing her tangled locks from her eyes. Harry and Ron took seats on her other side, Harry gently rubbing small circles on her back. Ron awkwardly patted her leg through the blankets. They heard her let out a sniffle before her body began heaving up and down.

The three looked at each other and back down at Hermione. Never had they seen her quite this broken.

* * *

"MALFOY! Get your arse in gear! Move up those stairs! MOVE!" Sweat dripped down his face. He licked his lips in hopes of removing the unwanted substance. Knees high, Draco took stair after stair feeling the eyes of his teammates following him. Not a single one had spoken to him since he missed Monday's game. Thankfully for him, Galvin had caught the snitch otherwise he was sure he wouldn't even be getting the opportunity to get his spot back. When he showed up for practice Tuesday morning, he'd received more dirty and hateful looks then he'd received as a Death Eater. Coach O'Kelly had been severely disappointed in him. Draco tried his hardest to keep his emotions in check during the coach's rant but by the end of their conversation, Draco was wiping his eyes and O'Kelly was promising him another chance until he was told otherwise.

"Get those knees higher, Malfoy! Losers have low knees! Be a winner!" Gritting his teeth in determination, Draco pulled his knees as high as he could.

"Winners get the girl. Winners get the girl!" His rugged breath repeated over and over, growing louder with each step. "WINNERS GET THE GIRL!"


	33. Plans

"Hermione, come on. You're being ridiculous." Ginny stood in front of Hermione's bedroom door, Harry and Ron having left a bit ago to purchase some food for Hermione's empty cupboards. In the meantime, Hermione had managed to remove herself from bed, shower, get her unruly hair somewhat tamed and had been in the process of getting redressed in comfortable lounging clothes when she had asked Ginny which day of the week it actually was. When she'd been informed that it was in fact Thursday as she had originally assumed, she began ripping her lounging clothes from her body, hurrying over to her dresser, pulling out instead her practice clothes for flying lessons.

"I can't miss a lesson, Gin. If there is possibly a small, slim, minute chance I'm not already fired, I can't risk handing the team over to Malfoy. I just can't." Pulling her shirt over her head, she quickly tied her long locks up and grabbed her trainers from her closet. "Don't you understand, Ginny?"

The redhead looked at her best friend in disbelief, shaking her head. "I'm not sure I do understand, but if you feel this is what you need to do, then who am I stop you?" Hermione gave the girl a small smile as she finished tying her lace. "But, I know two rather large men who would probably think you've gone batty and lost it, so if you're really going, I suggest going before they return from the store."

Hermione moved to hug her, her arms squeezing her just a little too tight. "Thank you, Gin, for everything. I know this is a mess I've created but you've stood by me. I just- just thank you again."

"Do you need me, you know, to come with you?" Ginny pulled back from their hug, hands still resting on Hermione's arms, her eyes full of concern.

"Thank you, Gin. But I think if I actually want a chance to finish the lesson, I'll need you here to keep Ron and Harry from coming after me and creating an even bigger problem."

"True. Very true." Ginny laughed slightly at Hermione's comment, releasing her arms. "How do you know he'll be there?"

"Malfoy will use any chance he has at embarrassing me. I doubt he'll let the chance to steal my job slide by." Ginny gave a firm nod as Hermione grabbed the powder from the bucket by her fireplace, dropped it in hearth and called out her destination.

* * *

"Oi Malfoy! Great practice today. Hit the showers." Coach O'Kelly gave him an approving smile from across the field.

"Thanks coach. If it's alright with you, I think I might fly around a bit. Clear my head." Draco hadn't waited for a response and climbed up onto his broom.

"Game's not until Sunday, so just be careful. Would you like me to have one of the trainers out here in case?" Draco kicked off the ground, hoovering just enough to kick his boots across the grass.

"I think I'll be just fine, but thank you coach." With a nod of his head, O'Kelly turned away, heading down the tunnel towards the locker room.

Draco leaned forward slightly, allowing his feet to drag across the length of the field before he looped around the goal post and push his broom up towards the orange sky. It had been a rough week. He hadn't seen Hermione's bushy mane since Monday before the game and currently, he couldn't keep the reporters away from him. He was tired of the camera flashes, the prying questions and the yelled insults. Thankfully, Michael was doing all that he could to keep the press out of the pitch during practices, but Draco hadn't been able to go out in public without the hounds of reporters following him. Hermione had managed to stay out of the papers. He assumed it was something Potter had put a stop to.

He did a few figure eights, quick corner turns and steep dives before he leaned just a bit too far to the left and tumbled off his broom to the grass below. The thud his body made as it hit the ground sounded much worse than it felt. He laid there for a moment, staring up at the red orange sky. Lacing his fingers together, the placed his hands behind his head. A cool breeze swept over him, but with a slick layer of sweat coating his body, it did little to cool him.

He closed his eyes, for just a moment, taking in his surroundings. He was going to miss this place. He was sure he would be traded before the year was up. Hermione had had Levski traded for just making snide comments about them possibly sleeping together, now he'd gone and actually slept with her. Sure, he could probably file a suit for sexually harassment as she was his boss and she was basically trading him because they'd had a sexual encounter together but after finally realizing his feelings for the brunette witch, he didn't want to do anything that could ruin his chances with her. Sure, she told him to get out, to leave her alone. But he was a Malfoy and he'd be damned if he was the first to be unable to obtain something he truly set his sights on.

He heard the shuffle of feet on grass and grabbed for his wand, cursing under his breath, realizing that he had left it in his locker. He lay still, not wanting to startle whoever was sneaking up on him. When the footsteps froze for a few moments, Draco carefully opened his eyes, expecting to see someone standing over him. However, the sky above him was empty, not a soul in sight. He rolled over, onto his stomach and was surprised to see Hermione Granger glaring back at him.

"Granger!" His voice came out in a bit of a squeak and he stumbled to his feet cheeks instantly turning red.

"Malfoy." Her voice was cold and distant causing the red on his cheeks to change from embarrassed to annoyed.

"What are you doing here? Heard you've been holed up for days. Finally realized you can't live without me?" He couldn't stop the words from rolling out of his mouth. He knew this was no way to win her over, but old habits die hard.

"Oh, please. Apparently you forgot it was Thursday. I'm just here for a lesson then I'll be on my way." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, jetting her hip to the side. He stared at her for a moment, a moment too long if you asked her.

"Fine. Where's your broom?"

"You didn't bring it out?" She hadn't been prepared for him to not be expecting her.

"Does it look like I have your broom Granger? Go grab it from the closet." She looked down at the watch on her arm. It was a quarter past five. The closet would be locked. Reaching down to her pocket, she let out a heavy sigh when her wand wasn't there. She had most certainly left it on her bedside table back at her loft.

"Can you unlock the closet Malfoy?"

"Does it look like I've got my wand with me? Can't risk breaking it while flying now can I?"

"Well what do you suggest then?" Her hands went to her hips this time as she stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"Well, I have a broom," he gestured to his broom which was still laying on the ground a few feet away.

"Are you crazy? I can't fly that! I can hardly fly the training broom you found for me. Your broom is much too fast." She shook her head and stepped away from him.

"I guess you don't have a lesson then Granger. Too bad, I heard you may have gotten to keep your job too…" Mentally, he slapped himself for the things he was saying to her. He didn't know if it was a need to be in control or a need to just speak to her. His eyes locked with hers and he watched the dilemma dance across her face. Draco swore he could see the gears turning in her head.

"I-Fine. Let's do this then."


	34. Lesson Five

****

Hermione nervously stepped up to Draco’s broom. She took three deep breaths before placing her shaky hand above the shaft.

“Up!” Her voice was weak, the words faltered a bit. The broom kay unmoved beneath her hand. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Hermione took another calming breath, hoping for a better result the second time.

“UP!” The broom danced this time, much like it had during her very first lesson with Hooch back at Hogwarts. Her frustration level grew quickly and she turned away from the broom. She’d been doing so well before this disastrous mess. Even if she could manage to keep her job, there was no way she was ever going to successfully pass flying lessons to get her out from under Draco’s thumb. Her head turned up at the darkening sky, she felt a tear slide down her cheek.

Draco watched the defeated look pass across her face. It was a rare sight to see. He reached out for her, but pulled his hand back, running it through his hair he turned away, muttering under his breath. When he turned back, he watched the tear slide down her freckled cheek and couldn’t take it any longer.

“Granger, don’t cry. Please.” Her tears turned to sobs, apparently his words only made it worse. “Granger come on, please. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” She laughed out, her voice dark and sarcastic. “I think the better question is what’s right? This whole thing has been nothing but an absolute mess and I have no one to blame but myself. I let this happen. I brought you here, I should have known better.”

“Did you ever think that maybe you brought me here for a reason Granger?”

“Well Malfoy, I did bring you here for a reason and it certainly wasn’t to let you in my knickers.”

“Are you so sure about that Granger? Your life was plain and dull until I got here and we both know it. You’re bored. Quidditch is not the only reason I’m here and we both know it.”

“You just think so high of yourself don’t you Malfoy? Well let me tell you something, you are not God’s gift to women and it would suit you to learn that sooner rather than later, granted at this point it’s probably too late to deflate that giant ego of yours.”

“Oh! Giant ego of mine, have you taken look in the mirror recently Granger? Talk about an ego. ‘I’m Granger, I don’t know what I’m doing and have no experience but look at me flawlessly manage a quidditch team. I’m just so perfect.’” Draco then mocked flipped long hair over his shoulder and batted his eyelashes at her. “Please Granger, talk about the pot calling the cauldron black.”

She stared open mouthed at him for some time. Her eyes flashed and it slipped out before she could stop it. “You’re an absolute wanker!”

“You’ve resorted to name calling, way to be a mature adult Granger.” Draco laughed only causing Hermione to heat up more. She could feel the heat rise up her neck and up to her cheeks. Her face hardened into a stone expression, she took a step towards him, pulling her hand back to slap him in the face. Draco caught her movements and grabbed her wrists, her hand mere inches from his pale cheek.

“I think once is enough.” He held her hand there, his eyes boring into hers. Hermione held his gaze while attempting to pull her wrist from his grasp.

“Let me go Malfoy.” His grip tightened and in her struggling they became very close. She could feel the heat radiating off his body and she suddenly became stiff as a board, now aware of their closeness.

“Malfo-“ her statement went unfinished. Draco closed the small gap between them and brought his lips crashing down to hers. Her eyes widened in surprise and her lips parted slightly, allowing him access to her mouth. His arms wrapped around her waist, holding her possessively close to him. Her body was stiff at first, he was sure there was a battle raging in her head but he finally felt her relax as her hands made their way up around his neck.

Hermione let out a squeal of surprise as she felt herself lifted from the earth. Before she knew it, her back was being pressed into the side wall of the pitch. When had Draco moved her from the center to the side? Her thoughts trailed away as she was about to protest to removal of his lips from hers until she felt his breath on her neck. Tilting her head to the side, she allowed him further access to her smooth skin. Hermione’s fingers tangled themselves deep in Draco’s hair.

 _‘What am I doing?’_ She tried to push the thoughts away. _‘I promised myself I was done. I can’t keep doing this.’_

“Malfoy.” He shook his head and continued to trail his mouth along her neck. “Malfoy, I’m serious.” She wigged in his grasp, but she felt his hands tighten on her arse. “Draco, please.” Her voice was barely above a whisper it tickled his ear. Draco gave a shake to adjust to the feeling before his eyes met hers.

They were pleading. She’d never seen that look on his face before. His typically blue orbs had darkened into a silver gray. His pupils danced as his eyes scanned her face. She bit her lip, momentarily forgetting why she’d asked him to stop the attention he’d been giving her neck.

“I,” she stumbled over the word, unsure of what she wanted to say. “I….”

Draco stretched up, placing a kiss on her temple. “Granger,” he’s voice was soft. “Hermione. Please, I’m begging you. Stop thinking for once. Let this happen. Give us a chance, I swear it’ll be your terms, your conditions, whatever it takes as long as I can kiss you like this every day. Stop thinking for once, please.”

She felt a tear slide down her face. This was certainly not what she’d expected to happen today but to be honest, being wrapped up in Draco’s arms, no matter how infuriating the man could be or how many obstacles were ahead of them, it was the best she’d felt in days.


	35. A Week

"Please, please. We will take questions one at a time. I need you all to just quiet down and be patient." Michael cleared his throat and gave a glance over his shoulder, internally still trying to decide if this was the best decision. "Go ahead John, ask the question again."

A reporter in his mid-forties stood, glancing nervously down at the notebook in his hand. "Is it true Miss Granger, that you have taken up a romantic relationship with Falcon seeker Draco Malfoy?"

A hush fell over the crowd as all eyes fell anxiously to Hermione seated at in interview table to the front of the conference room. She gave a sideways glance to Draco who reached for her knee under the table and gave her an encouraging nod. Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward towards the magical microphone.

"That is correct. Draco and I tried not to take our relationship beyond a professional level but unfortunately given our history together as well as our current working relationship, it was just simply,” she glanced to her right, flashing a smile at Draco. “Unavoidable."

The crowd noise grew to a loud rumble; Michael tried to once again control the conference room.

* * *

“Can you believe this shite?” With an angry growl, Dillon chucked his towel across the locker room towards the radio currently broadcasting the interview upstairs.

“I for one, am not a bit surprised. You could cut the sexual tension between those two with a fork since he got here. It was only a matter of time. They were the same way back in school,” Ritichie paused before turning around. “Granted, as far as I know this whole thing wasn’t going on then.”

Dillon was standing in front of his locker when a smirk grew across his long face. He’s heard the stories of the war heroes; hell the whole wizarding world heard those stories. It was now common knowledge that smarty pants Granger and rash Weasley shared a moment in some chamber. His smirk grew as he reached for his jacket before slamming the door shut with a hum and a skip in his step.

“I thought we were going to grab drinks.” Ritichie stood from the bench casting his arms out to the side as he awaited an answer.

“Raincheck mate.”

* * *

“Hermione, what the bloody hell is this?” Hermione jumped in her seat, startled. A very red faced Ron was staring down at her. She gave him a questioning look and reached for the paper.

“Ron, what are you-“ Her heart stopped as she read the headline on the front page of The Daily Prophet.

** 'Granger's Caught with Her Hand in the Cookie Jar' **

“Oh Godric.” Her eyes raced across the article, her cheeks becoming redder by the second. She could feel the paper start to crinkle in her hands.

‘ _It seems Miss Hermione Granger and Mr. Draco Malfoy’s conference yesterday was simply a formality as inside source states the two have been together since their Hogwarts days. I, for one, am shocked at this news as I was sure Miss Granger had been romantically involved with fellow war hero Ronald Weasley. However, it seems, much like Miss Granger’s fourth year, she had two men in her heart at the same time. It makes you wonder if Miss Granger was also seeing Mr. Malfoy during the Twiwizard tournament as well. We may never have an answer to these questions though, as Miss Granger still holds a close friendship with many of her past flames. We here at the Prophet highly doubt she’d want to upset these “LIFELONG FRIENDS”._

By the time she reached the bottom of the article, Ron could swear he could see the flames in her eyes. He watched her face as her eyes moved from picture to picture. It seemed Rita Skeeter had chronicled Hermione’s love life across page one.

“Ronald, you can’t honestly believe the garbage this woman is dumping out of her mouth, can you?” She tried to hold the anger out of her voice, but the fact that Ron could even start to believe any of the words printed on the page hurt her heart.

A broad smile took place on Ron’s face and he let out a laugh as he watched Hermione let out a sigh of relief. “’Mione, I know you aren’t a harlot no matter what Skeeter thinks. But I’d figured you hadn’t seen this yet. Thought it would be better coming from a friend.”

“Oh Ron.” She rose from her desk and raced around it, wrapping her longtime friend in a tight hug. “You have no idea how happy that makes me. I know you haven’t been on board with many of my decisions as of late, but I- Just thank you.” She hugged him tight again and he gave her a hard squeeze. Who was he to deny his best friend the happiness she deserved?

* * *

“Mother, I know. I should have informed you first.”

“Draco darling, you know I support you and your dreams. Why did you think I wouldn’t support this?”

“To be fair mother, you’ve only been openly supporting my dreams since father was locked away. You must understand my hesitation.”

“I am your mother Draco. I will always be behind you. That’s possible now. She helped with that.”

“She’s amazing mother. There is no one like her.”

* * *

“AND DRACO MALFOY CATCHES THE GOLDEN SNITCH! THE FALCONS HAVE BEATEN THE CATAPULTS!” The stands erupted in cheers. As he flew done, snitch clutched tightly in his hand, he glanced up at the owner’s box. A bright smile littered her face and he swore he could see every freckle she had as she beamed down at him.

This, moments like this. He wanted to remember forever.

* * *

“It’s a beautiful Saturday here at Harpies Stadium. The Harpies have gone undefeated this season and hope to clench the first place spot on the bracket for finals. However, that could prove to be difficult. The Falcons have certainly had an incredible season this year. It’s blatantly obvious that bringing in both Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy have made a huge difference in this team. After their win over the Catapults just a week ago, they clenched their last home win Monday against the Appleby Arrows.”

“The stands are certainly filled with some celebrities today. I got a peak at the owner’s box earlier. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger looked pretty cozy up there. This will be the first time seekers Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy have competed against each other and we hear the two have created quite the rivalry.”

The players were in position and the balls were released. Draco watched as the snitch gave a quick loop around his head before doing the same to Ginny.

“Ready Malfoy?”

“Bring it.”

A whistle sounded below and the quaffle was tossed up. Ginny quickly shot past Draco, headed for the far end of the pitch. Draco instead climbed higher, hoping for a better vantage point. He was determined to catch the snitch before Ginny could get her grubby paws on it.

The two had had quite the week tormenting each other. It amazed Draco how quickly he could fall into a sense of welcoming with a group of people who’d hated his existence for so many years. When Hermione had brought them to the pub after their win on Monday, to say he was nervous was an understatement. But thankfully, after one shouting match with Potter and a quick fist fight with Weasley, Draco found a companion in little Ginny.  

After many drinks, she’d sworn she’d quit if he managed to beat her on Saturday. Apparently this was a common debate in the Potter/Weasley home. Harry was ready to start their family but Ginny was sure she had a few good years left in her. A few drinks later and hands were being shook. They’d struck a deal. The first time Ginny loses to Draco, she retires. 

And that was how Draco ended up in private training sessions all week with Harry. He shook his head at the thought. Who would have ever believed this would be his life?

He saw a flash of gold to his left and took off, quickly followed by Ginny who had apparently seen the same flash. They raced across the pitch, taking no notice as Rhys tossed the quaffle threw the hoop.

Draco took a quick glance to his right and saw Ginny glaring him down. He sent a sneer back her way. When he looked back in front of him, the snitch was gone. Ginny was throwing her head back and forth, looking everywhere for where the little golden ball got away to but saw nothing.

“I won’t go easy on you Weasley.”

“I don’t expect you to Malfoy. When I beat you, I want it to be because I’m better then you.” He gave her a quick raise of the eyebrows and shot off once again.

* * *

“Oh this is too much. They are going to hate each other when this is over.” Hermione was on the edge of her seat, eyes glued to the duo below.

“Calm down ‘Mione. She can’t possibly hate him more than she already does.” Harry sent Ron a sideways glance and shook his head at his friends comment.

“This whole mess is your fault Harry Potter.”

“My fault?!”

“Yes your fault. If you hadn’t made that stupid bet with Ginny, I wouldn’t have to worry so much.”

“Come on ‘Mione. You know Gin will never let Malfoy beat her and when she finally does it’ll be because she’s ready to.” Hermione just gave Ron a hard shove. “What’d I do?”

* * *

It’d been an hour since they’d last seen the snitch. The score was quickly climbing for the Falcons but it wouldn’t do them much good if Ginny caught the snitch before he managed to. He heard the crowd roar to life and assumed the Harpies had finally made another basket, that is, until he saw a flash of red shoot up towards the sky. Draco whipped his broom around and took off after her, but he watched her small hand clasp around the snitch and brought himself to a halt.

He’d lost. To a Weasley.


	36. The Finals: Part 1

 

"Happy Saturday, and welcome to the final game of the Quidditch World Cup Finals!" There was a loud roar from the stadium. Team colors were splashed everywhere the eye could see. The stands were packed and the fans were ready.

"Our two finalists have fought hard to get here today. Let's recap their journeys." Music boomed from the loud speakers as the crowd turned their attention up to the canvas covered sky.

"That bye in the first round must have been the rest Ginny Weasley needed to pull out that win. The Wanders didn't stand a chance against the Harpies. Did you see that catch?" Highlights from last weekend's match flew across the canvas as the crowd below cheered. "These ladies have had an absolutely amazing season. It's about time they get the chance to prove what they are made of." Footage from previous season games flashed showing amazing saves, great scores and a few incredible dives before the image faded into green as the Harpies crest took over the screen. The team entered the field below and the pitch roared to life once more.

"Seated fourth in the bracket, it seemed unlikely that the Falcons would make it to the finals. How wrong were we!?" The crowd watched in awe as footage of Captain and chaser Avery Hawksworth flying across the pitch changed the scene on the screen. Footage from the first round game against the Wasps brought the screen to life. Images flash before the final score appears on the screen. The video melts into the quarterfinal game against second ranked United, showing the snitch catch by Draco Malfoy. "I can't believe it! Draco Malfoy has captured the golden snitch! Puddlemere will not be advancing. Unbelievable!" Falcon fans rose to their feet as the clip of Draco's spectacular dive replayed in slow motion. The footage changed once again to highlights from the semifinals against the sixth ranked Arrows. When the final score flashed across the screen, a few Arrow fans hung their heads in shame. It was a slaughter. Changing once again, the screen turned a shade of dark grey and the Falcon crest was displayed in the middle of the canvas. The Falcons entered the pitch to a loud roar from the fans. After a few moments the screen faded to white, both teams' crests appearing, a large VS. between them.

* * *

"Are you sure we're making the right choice mate?" Ron and Harry had just gotten themselves settled into their booth. It was small, private and lined up smack dab in the center of the pitch. It was the perfect neutral location. Harry shifted in his seat, reaching for a beverage.

"Ron, I don't see how we could go wrong here. We cheer for Ginny and the Harpies," he pointed to the left side of the field. "But we also cheer for Hermione and the Falcons." He gestured again but this time, to the right. "We're placed directly between the two, so no sides have been chosen. To be honest, it seems like a fool proof plan to me."

Giving his shoulders a shrug, Ron sunk himself deeper into his chair, asking Harry to pass him a drink. Popping the top off the bottle, he takes a long swig before once again turning to Harry. "Who's paying for this box anyway?"

Harry's eyes widened mid drink and he turned his head towards Ron. "I thought you said you paid…"

"Me?! Who do you think I am Harry, The Boy Who Lived?"

Harry's face turned a dark red, his green eyes darkening as well as he stood from his seat, drink discarded on the concrete floor. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ron too, was now standing. "I think you know exactly what it means!"

Just as they lunged towards each other, a security wizard stepped into their box. "Oi! Wha's goin' on in 'ere?"

The man was quite large and with ease grabbed both men's shirt collars, successfully pulling them apart from each other. "Where's your tickets?"

Ron was still red faced and Harry took a large gulp of air before reaching a hand up to push his glasses up the bridge of his long nose. "Funny you should ask…"

* * *

"What's going on?" Hermione had just walked out onto the pitch, Michael in tow. The crowd was in an up roar as images of Ron and Harry being removed from their box seat played across the large canvas. She couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. Quickly scanning the sky, Hermione caught sight of a very red faced Ginny. Had it been anyone else being thrown from the game, Hermione was sure Ginny would be in stitches, but that was certainly not the case.

"What wankers! Oh Red's going to murder them." Hermione shot Draco a death glare, but it went unnoticed as his eyes were closed to attempt to stop the tears of joy trying to escape them.

"Malfoy! Knock that off! I need you focused. Take a few laps to calm yourself back done. Don't make me put Gudgeon in for you!" Galvin sat a little straighter in his seat, hoping for the chance to get in. Draco's smile instantly dropped and a sneer replaced it. He muttered under his breath before doing as O'Kelly instructed.

Hermione and Michael approached O'Kelly, wishing him and the team the best of luck. Michael explained how, win or lose, they would be holding post-game interviews with the team, the coach and staff. With one more wish of luck, the pair headed for the tunnels, hoping to get up to their box before the toss-up.

"Granger!" Hermione couldn't help the small smile that formed on her lips. She motioned to Michael to go on ahead and she would catch up.

"What do you need Mr. Malfoy?" His broom was casually thrown over his shoulder and he ran an on gloved hand through his hair.

"I uh, needed a bit of luck if you catch my drift." He smugly took a step closer to her, reaching for her cheek. Her face heated slightly, the pink rising in her cheeks. She bit down on her bottom lip in anticipation. Cat calls and whistles filled the stands as Draco's lips crashed into hers. Her hand snaked its way around his neck and his other hand found its way to her waist.

"Oh get a room you two!"

"Jealous, Red? Doesn't look like you'll be getting a good luck kiss today to me." Ginny's face once again darkened to a shade of red that clashed terribly with her hair. Hermione's left hand balled itself into a fist and collided with Draco's right shoulder.

"Draco! Don't upset Ginny before the match!" Draco removed his hand from her waist and massaged the now sore spot on his shoulder.

"She's the competition, Granger! It's my job to upset her before the game." Hermione only scowled in response before wishing Ginny good luck and leaving the field. Throwing his hands up in the air, Draco turned away from her retreating figure. "Women!"

All that earned him was another dirty look from the Harpies keeper.

* * *

The whistle blew and the quaffle was in the air before Hermione managed to meet up with Michael in the owners' box. She shook hands, smiling her white smile at all the right people. Taking her seat, she felt Michael give her knee a quick pat as the mummers and whispers started behind her. She reached out and gripped his hand with hers, hoping to convey the thanks she felt at his action.

Hermione couldn't have been more thankful for Michael presence this season. He was that rock she needed, someone who, although he didn't always agree with her decisions, was there to back her up, willing to speak up for her when her voice became lost. She gave his hand another tight squeeze and mouthed a quick 'Thank you' in his direction. With a small smile, he handed her a pair of omnioculars and turned his attention back to the game.

Releasing his hand and bringing the omnioculars up to her eyes, Hermione was delighted as Avery tossed the quaffle through the far left hoop for the first point of the game. The Falcon section let out a boom of cheers, her current box included. She watched as Ritchie sent a bludger towards a Harpies chaser she couldn't remember the name of, only to have her dodge it and head straight for Dillon. His eyes followed her, ready to leap towards the left hoop but at the last moment she passed the quaffle to her right and into the hands of Valmai Morgan who sent the ball flying through center hoop. More than a few choice words filled the box and a frown settled on Hermione's face.

Scanning the sky, Hermione caught sight of Ginny's flaming red ponytail darting across the field towards where she was delighted to see that Draco was already in pursuit of the golden snitch.

* * *

When Ginny caught sight of the snitch, her heart dropped in her stomach when she realized just how close Draco was to catching it. Leaning forward on her broom, she shot across the pitch, willing the broom to move faster. As she approached Draco, who had his arm outstretched, she slowed only slightly on her broom, causing her to crash into him. The broom jerked as they collided and her gloved hands were gripping the handle so tight she was sure her knuckles were white as fresh snow.

The glare Draco sent her as he regained his balance reminded her of their days back at Hogwarts when he was nothing but a bully she couldn't stand the sight of. It was crazy to think that this man before her now had everything to do with the happiness of her best friend. She shook the thought however, reminding herself that now was not the time be getting soft about Draco. Leaning forward once more, she pushed the broom again, hoping her lighter weight would be an advantage against her large competitor.

Draco felt his face fall even more into a scowl as Ginny gained ground and pulled away from him. It was like his very first match against Gryffindor all over again. Getting as close to the shaft of the broom as he safely could, he felt himself being propelled faster, slowly catching up to the speedy red head.

Ginny shot her head back, unable to believe he had found a way to catch her. Turning her head quickly back around, she watched as the snitch darted left, then right, up then down before it completely changed directions and was now headed the opposite way as she was.

"Merlin, help me." Ginny took a deep breath before pulling the shaft of the broom up towards the canvas covered sky. Her feet tightened as she prepared herself for the ninety degree angle she was about to push herself to.

Draco saw the snitch turn and dart behind him and was preparing himself to swing around when he caught sight of Ginny. He watched in awe as she turned out from her straight angle into a barrel roll and was now headed quickly in the opposite direction. He heard the roar of the fans below and the announcers stumble in disbelief.

Red had balls.

* * *

"But sir, really, this is just a simple misunderstanding."

"Yeah. Honest." Ron nodded his head furiously. The security wizard let out an annoyed grunt as he dragged the pair towards the stadium exit gates.

"You see sir," Harry tried again. "My girlfriend plays for the Harpies."

"Bloody brilliant she is, but don't tell her that, it'll go straight to her head." Harry sent a glare in Ron's direction before continuing.

"And my best friend is the General Manager for the Falcons. So obviously, we couldn't pick sides. The middle was the only option."

"Yeah, only option honest." Another glare found its way to Ron. His comments weren't helping their case any.

"But here I was thinking Ron purchased the box and he was sure I'd paid so you could see where the confusion came in." The wizard tightened his grip on the troublesome duos collars, handling them with more force then he had been previously. Ron wiggled in his grip, becoming more anxious with every cheer from the crowd.

"Listen here you over paid ticket checker. My baby sister is playing my childhood nemesis and if I miss seeing her crush him, I swear I'll hex you into next year." The wizard stopped, turning and giving his full attention to the squirming red head in his grasp.

"Is that a threat?"

"You can bloody well bet your arse it is!" Harry's groans were no longer inward. He watched as the guards face reddened before he once again began heading towards the exit. The few people milling about that they passed, stopped to stare, pointing at the trio.

"Way to go Ron." Harry's mumbled comment went unanswered as the guard pushed the two out of the gates and onto the dusty ground.

"And stay out you freeloaders!" Rising from the ground, dusting the dirt from his pants, Harry tried once more to reason with the guard. "I take it telling you that I'm Harry Potter would be a lost cause right?"

The guard gave him a once over before slamming the gate closed with a laugh. "Yeah, and I'm the Minister for Magic." His key turned the lock with a click as her laughed his way back inside.

Ron fell back onto the dirt with a thud. "Bloody hell, my sisters gonna murder me."

**Author's Note:**

> This work is also posted on FF.net and is a WIP. I've just recently learned of this site and am excited to post my work here as well.


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